Music of the After
by Saria Skye
Summary: Rebecca was just your average half white, half Hispanic 12 year old girl from America. But when she unexpectedly meets her end during a family vacation/reunion to Mexico, she's suddenly thrown into a world not even her wildest dreams could have prepared her for.
1. Chapter 1

**Just saw this movie yesterday finally, and I LOVED it! It went WAY over my expectations so much so that it inspired me to write. Not sure how far I'm going to go with this story, I just had an idea and decided to roll with it. I guess it'll depend on what kind of reception it gets.**

* * *

"I'm bored," Trevor complained loudly from the seat next to her. Becca responded with an eye roll.

Granted, the drive to the beach was taking a while, but he really had no room to complain.

"Would you stop whining! Play your game," Becca dropped the Game Boy in his lap.

"But I already beat it!" he moaned in protest.

"I told you, you should have brought more than one," she reminded him, going back to her own game.

"Don't worry honey, we'll be there soon," their mother assured him from the front of the car. It didn't really seem to do much to placate her little brother, but at least he was finally pouting in silence.

Their parents had assured them that there would be plenty to do when they were planning their trip to Puerto Vallarta to visit their family on their mother's side. Even though their mother was born in America, most of her extended family still lived in Mexico. She claimed it had been years since they all got together, so she'd very much been looking forward to this trip. Her children, however, not so much. Family reunions had never been super interesting. Mostly they'd been awkward, especially with the language barrier.

At this moment however, they were taking time away from the extended family to take a day trip out to the ocean.

"Just wait until you see it! Puerto Vallarta has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world," her mother had told them.

However, all they'd managed to see so far was the side of a highway. Hence her little brother's complaining.

A short while later, true to their mother's word, they finally arrived at the coast.

"Yay! Come on Becca, I'll race you to the water!" Trevor exclaimed, leaping out of the car as soon as they had parked.

"Not too fast! And watch where you step! Not sure what's gonna be on this beach," their father called after them.

His wife shot him a dirty look. "This is a very popular beach. I'm sure it's well maintained," she offered snidely.

"Hey, you can never be too careful," he defended.

Once Becca reached the water, she was amazed at how warm it felt around her feet and ankles. The water sparkled a crystal clear blue as it lapped at the edges of the coast line. She bet that even if they went out as deep as they could, they would still be able to see all the way to ocean floor.

Becca and Trevor played in the water for a good, long time while their parents sat on the beach and read. Ugh, boring! Becca scoffed. Oh well, as long as she didn't have to participate. Once they had grown tired of the water, they moved up onto the beach to make sand castles, which once again only entertained them for a while. It didn't take much longer for Trevor to grow restless again.

"Hey Becca, let's go exploring!" he offered excitedly.

"Okay, but we gotta make sure it's okay with mom and dad first," she reasoned. Becca tromped through the sand over to where her parents were sitting on big, colorful beach towels.

"Hey mom – dad – do you mind if we go exploring?" she asked hopefully.

Her parents glanced at each other before looking back at her, doing that unspoken, parent, communication thing.

"Alright baby, just make sure you don't go too far," her mother warned.

"No problem, we won't," she assured her, before turning and taking off down the beach.

After several minutes of walking, they came across a cliff face that looked out over the water. There was a grassy slope behind it that lead up to the top.

"I bet we could see for forever from up there! I wonder what's at the top," Trevor said with awe. "Let's go see!" he exclaimed and took off around and up the slope.

"Hey! Don't run so fast! Wait up!" Becca called after him, trying her best to keep up. Where did he get all that energy?

They reached the top in no time due to Trevor's breakneck pace. There wasn't really anything interesting at the top, just more grass and plants. The view, however, was amazing! Becca thought she should tell her mom about this before they left. She'd probably want to see it too!

While Becca was marveling at the beautiful water, she failed to notice her little brother moving increasingly closer towards the edge of the cliff. Not until he finally shouted to get her attention.

"Hey Becca, come see! There's an eagle nest!" he hollered excitedly.

Her attention quickly snapped back towards him to find that he had his torso dangling dangerously over the edge of the drop, peering down the cliff face.

"Trevor! Get away from there!" she yelled frantically at him, but he ignored her.

She dashed over as fast as she could and grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Are you crazy, you could—" she never actually got the chance to finish, because as she was yanking him back, she felt the edge of the cliff suddenly shift beneath her. Her momentum continued to carry Trevor back and onto the safe grass behind them, unfortunately, she wasn't so lucky. That same momentum caused her to fall backwards, but not far enough. She only had a moment to think, before the ground gave out from underneath her.

Suddenly she was falling! She let out a shrill shriek of terror as she went tumbling head over heels towards the rocky water below. She thought she heard her brother call her name, but she didn't have time to respond. She felt a sharp, excruciating pain crack across the back of her skull, and then everything went black.

* * *

Becca blinked and squinted as a bright orange light suddenly pierced through her eyelids. As they adjusted, she opened them wider to find that she was lying the beach. However, it was dark now. She sat up to see that the light was coming from a pile of brightly lit, orange petals, glowing all around her. She was currently sitting in the middle of them.

Becca got up to look around more. She was sort of confused as to what was going on. She couldn't really remember where she was, or what she was doing there. She just knew it didn't make sense. She shouldn't be lying alone on a beach in the middle of the night!

She noticed that the orange petals continued on in a path that led away from the water and into the darkness. It was almost like she was supposed to follow them, but she felt hesitant about doing so.

"Hello?" she called out into the night. There was no answer. "HELLO!?" she tried again, louder.

There was some movement in the distance that caught her attention. She watched as a small shadow followed the path of petals to where she was standing. As it came closer, she quickly realized that it was just a cat. It's bright green eyes flashing in the reflection of the petals.

"Oh, hello kitty," she greeted it, kneeling down to pet it on the head. "Are you out here all alone, too?" she wondered.

It rubbed up against her for a moment with a purr, before turning and stalking back towards the way it came. It only moved a few paces however, before it turned it's head back to look at Becca expectantly. It was almost as if – it wanted her to follow it. Well, since she didn't know what else to do, she decided it wouldn't hurt to try.

The cat was very dedicated to the strange flower path, it never once attempted to deviate from the course. Eventually, they came to the entrance to a graveyard. The cat wandered in like it was no big deal, but Becca halted her progress. She wasn't sure about going into such a spooky place, especially in the middle of the night. The cat, however, was undeterred. It came back for her, doing it's best to encourage her along. But Becca didn't understand why they needed to go here.

Eventually it gave up, giving her one last growl before disappearing into the night. Becca stood on the precipice of the burial ground for what seemed like an eternity. She turned around to look around her. She thought about trying to go back, to find someone out there who could help her, but the path of petals had disappeared from behind her. Only the ones leading into the graveyard remained.

Logic would dictate that she needed to keep going forward, to follow the path. Seeing as how she didn't really have any other options, she finally decided to take a couple steps forward and enter the cemetery. As soon as she did, the entire place lit up like a Christmas tree with the auburn glow of thousands of petals. It certainly reduced the creepy factor of where she was at. She looked ahead to see that all of the petals seemed to converge into a giant orange bridge of sorts.

Becca continued forward onto the bridge, and the site that met her eyes was more spectacular than she could ever put into words! On the other side of the petal bridge seemed to be a giant metropolis with hundreds of thousands of brightly lit, glowing neon lights. Where was she? What the heck was going on? Suddenly the cat jumped back onto the path in front of her, only now it was a brilliant awash of glowing colors and patterns, not like the plain black it had been before.

She peered all around herself as she continued to follow the strangely colored cat. There seemed to be many other petal bridges, all converging at the mega metropolis that she was heading towards. The closer she got, the more incredible it became, like a giant theme park.

Eventually she finally came to the gates, and the cat lead her over to a booth that had a sign above it reading 'New Arrivals'. There was what appeared to be some kind of office sitting at the booth, he had his back turned to her.

"Excuse me, sir, I was wondering if you could help me?" she requested timidly.

"Of course niña," he told her, turning around. "I just need your name and then—" but Becca didn't give him a chance to finish, because as soon as he turned around so she could see his face – what met her gaze was a talking skeleton! She only let him speak for another half-second more, before letting out an ear shattering scream!

As quick as she could, she flipped around and began to flee in a panic. She only spared a half-glace behind her, just in time to see that she was being chased by several more skeleton monsters. She tried running back over the bridge she'd come from, but as soon as she stepped foot onto it, she felt herself beginning to sink. It was like a nightmare, where when you were trying to run away from the monster, but it felt like you were trying to move through syrup! But if this was a dream, it was the most vivid she'd ever had! It all felt very real!

It was when she felt bony hands grasping around her arms that she realized maybe it wasn't. After all, the monster had never caught her in any of her nightmares before! She began yelling and struggling, trying to escape her captors.

"Whoa! Niña, calm down! Calm down! We aren't going to hurt you," she heard a man say in earnest.

Eventually, seeing as how she had little choice, she conceded defeat. She wasn't strong enough to break away from the skeletons, so she stopped struggling. They flipped her around to get a better look at her, and all she could do was stare at them in terror.

"She's confused, probably doesn't understand what's happening," one of them said, she thought it was a man.

"Oh, poor thing. It just breaks my heart seeing them here so young," the other one added, this one sounding like a woman.

Despite her fear, in the back of her mind, her subconscious was picking up that these skeletons had very thick Spanish accents. Just like all of the people she'd been around while in Mexico.

"What are you – going to do with me?" she asked hesitantly, on the verge of tears.

"We're here to help you cross over, niña," the man skeleton told her.

"What do you mean – cross over?" she asked, clearly not understanding. The skeleton woman looked at her with sympathy.

"Ah – I'm so sorry to be the one to have to break this to you, pequeña – but, you've died."

* * *

 **Bum Bum Bum!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I am just super surprised and excited by the amazing reception that my little story has received after only a day! You guys are awesome! It was a slow day at work today, so here's Chapter 2 for everyone!**

 **Also just a quick author's note: I probably should have explained this from the beginning, but this story is supposed to take place several years before the events of the movie itself. Knowing that will make this chapter make much more sense! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"What?!" Becca exclaimed in surprise. "N-No, that can't be – this can't be real," she attempted to justify. There was still a chance this was just an elaborate dream.

"Oh, it's real alright – mira!" the man grabbed her wrist and held her hand up in front of her face.

What met her gaze was nothing but bone. It was as if all of the skin and flesh had been ripped off her hand. Becca's eyes went wide with shock. She brought the other hand up to her gaze, it looked exactly the same. She frantically ripped the sleeves of her hoodie up around her elbows. Her arms were nothing but bone. She looked down, bony feet were wearing her sandals. She stumbled backwards, falling on her butt in the process.

Becca's breathing began to increase with panic. None of this made any sense. It wasn't physically possible! "What's happening to me?!" she demanded. How could she not have noticed this before? Maybe because it had been so dark?

"It's what happens when you die. You think that's bad, you should see your face," the man chuckled.

Becca cautiously reached up to feel her face. She couldn't really _feel_ it in the traditional sense, but she could tell that the soft squish of her round cheeks was gone. There wasn't anything left except hard mandible.

Well, that was just about all she could handle. She'd reached her breaking point. Becca felt her eyes roll back in her head, and once again, everything went dark.

"Jorge!" The skeleton woman snapped, smacking him in the back of the head. "That was muy mala! Can't you see she's already scared enough without you teasing her?" she lectured.

"Lo siento, Maria, but she's going to have to figure it out eventually," he reasoned.

"You couldn't explain more gently?" she pressed him. His response was just to shrug.

"Well, let's get her inside. We won't be able to process her until she wakes up."

* * *

Some time later, Becca could feel herself start to come to. She slowly opened her eyes to find an unfamiliar ceiling above her. Her foggy mind tried to piece together the events that brought her here. Had it been a dream? Well, there was one way to find out. She slowly lifted her hand up in front of her face, and then flinched when she saw her skeleton instead of a normal hand, once again.

She felt her breath catch in her throat, but she forced herself to swallow it down. She couldn't afford to freak out now, not until she knew she was safe.

Becca carefully pushed herself up, trying to avoid making any noise. She realized that someone had put some chairs together and laid her across them as a makeshift bed. She rolled down onto her hand and knees and peered around. She appeared to be in some kind of office, completely with computer, desk, and lamp in the corner. And as far as she could tell, she was alone in the room.

There were some windows on her left. She crept towards them, lifting herself so she could just make out what was on the other side through the bottom of the window. It looked like the inside of your stereotypical generic business. There were skeleton people sitting at desks – typing away at computers or writing on papers.

What was she doing here? She couldn't possibly understand what they would want with her? Did they have child services in the afterlife if kids died before their parents or something? Either way, she didn't want to stick around to find out! She'd heard horror stories about foster care from some of the kids at her school.

Becca threw her hood up over her head and made her way over to the door. She carefully opened it and stuck her head out. There was another door just across the way that looked like it might lead outside. If only she could make it there without getting spotted.

Keeping low to the ground, Becca snuck along the floor, trying to keep as quiet as possible. The soft sounds of chatter and beeping machinery reached her ears. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. So far so good. As the door got closer, she had to fight the urge to jump up and make a dash for it. That would certainly draw unwanted attention.

Three feet – two feet – just inches away. She was so close!

Suddenly, there was startling cry that shattered the air. "Jorge! Jorge! She's gone!"

All eyes turned towards the room that Becca had just come from, including hers. A man, who she recognized from before, burst out of the room and pointed at her.

"Somebody stop that girl! Rápido!" he shouted in her direction.

Well, so much for stealth! Becca leapt up and grabbed for the door handle. She threw herself through the doorway as quickly as she could. She ran through another small hallway before entering a lobby area with large, glass doors at the end. She pushed her way through those doors, looking back for just a fraction of a second to see several skeletons hot on her tail.

The main doors to the building lead out into a plaza type area that was bustling with activity. Skeletons of every shape and size mingled and moved around, going about their daily business, not paying the slightest bit of attention to Becca. She realized this was her chance! She dove into the middle of the crowd, weaving around skirts and ducking under legs. She didn't know where she was running to, all she knew was she wanted to get away from her pursuers!

"Niña! Niña wait! We never learned your name!" She heard one voice from behind her say.

"We're only trying to help you find your familia!" Another shouted.

Yeah right! She knew practically next to nothing about Spanish, but she knew what that meant. Her "familia" was still alive, which meant she'd be going to a fake "familia". No way was she going to let that happen!

"Hey!" a third voice exclaimed right next to her. Probably someone she'd bumped into by accident. She didn't have time to turn to see who it was. Not that it really mattered, anyway.

As she was running, a particularly large group of skeleton people began to pass between her and those chasing her. Becca looked to her side and spied a stairwell with a hollow interior shrouded in darkness. She saw her opportunity and veered off her current path towards it. She ducked and slid under the stairs, and then flipped around to peer out from the dark. She watched with relief as they continued to run past and disappeared from sight.

So – now what? She'd lost who she thought were the bad people here, but, who were the good ones? Were there even any? She watched for a while as skeleton after skeleton passed by her hiding place. They all looked like monsters to her, but then she glanced back down at her own hands. She should probably stop calling them that, seeing as how she was a monster now too!

The thought brought her sorrow back to her, and she readjusted to a sitting position, pulling her knees up to her chest. She took one last look at her bony hands before pulling the sleeves of her hoodie down over them. Then Becca buried her face in her knees, and sobbed.

* * *

Another day – another death, and another addition to the eternal fiesta of the afterlife. A popular saying when you called 'The Land of the Dead' your home. However, for Héctor, it was more like another day – and a little more of him died inside.

His precious Coco was getting old. There was no telling how much longer her memory was going to last, let alone her life. He had spent years trying to find a way to scam his way across that stupid petal bridge. Every year on Dia de los Muertos he would try, and every year it ended in another failed attempt. He had all but given up hope of ever seeing her again, in the living world, or this one.

He was wandering around the plaza that lead to the bridges, a favorite place of his to hang out. Sometimes it was to try and devise new ways of tricking the gate staff, other times it was just to watch the new arrivals. Perhaps another member of the family that disowned him might come in today. It was better than doing nothing and letting himself waste away.

A sudden commotion ahead snapped him out of his stupor. Several of the gate staff were frantically running in his direction. They seemed to be chasing someone.

"We're only trying to help you find your familia!" he heard one of them shout, apparently to the person that they were chasing.

He felt a bit confused. Why would anyone run from the gate staff?

He didn't have too long to wonder before he saw a black, hooded figure push its way through the crowd. Looked almost like a miniature grim reaper. The figure bumped into him as it desperately tried to scramble away.

"Hey!" he hollered in protest, but they didn't stop, or even hesitate for that matter. He studied the retreating form, and on closer inspection saw that it was just a child in a black hooded sweater.

A few moments later the gate staff then came barreling past, in hot pursuit of the run away kid. Curiosity getting the better of him, Héctor decided to follow along to try and find out what was going on. He made his way around the crowd, skirting the edge to attempt to keep the kid in sight. They were suddenly separated by a large mariachi group that blocked the gate staff from following the kid further.

He quickly moved around the group just in time to see the small figure duck under a nearby stair case. The group of pursuers, not seeing where their quarry had gone, hurriedly continued forward until he could no longer see them. Once they had gone, only then did the kid poke it's head out to look around.

"Huh, well, aren't you clever?" he muttered to himself. He walked a few paces closer, trying to look at nonchalant as possible, until her could get a better look at the face.

He had been right! Under the hood was a young girl. He didn't think she was even old enough to be a teenager yet. It made him wonder what had happened. How did she end up here? Although – perhaps he didn't actually _want_ to know. It was always a sad thing, to see kids coming through the gate.

However, the main question that still pressed on his mind – why was she running and trying to hide in the first place? She looked terrified, her wide eyes darting around and staring at all the people passing by. No one seemed to care to pay much attention to her, but that wasn't too surprising. After all, if she wasn't 'remembered', then no one around here was going to want to associate with her. He knew all too well what that was like.

He considered going over and asking her himself, but he wasn't sure how she was going to react. Would she just run from him too? Probably. . .

After another few moments of contemplation, he decided to give it up. He was sure that somebody would find her eventually, or she would find them, and it would all be taken care of. None of it was really his concern anyway. Besides, he still had a full day of sulking ahead of him.

* * *

Becca sat near the stairwell for – she didn't even know how long. It was hard to tell the passing of time here. It could have been hours, it could have been days. She wasn't sure, but at some point she finally did get tired of crying.

Survival instinct told her that she couldn't just sit there forever, that eventually she'd need to find food and water. However, the longer she sat, the more she realized that she didn't seem to have those needs any more. What was she thinking? Of course not, she was dead after all! She didn't need to eat or drink, use the bathroom, or even sleep it seemed. The whole time she was sitting there, she never experienced even the slightest urge at all. It was the strangest sensation – like she could just sit there for the rest of eternity and never need anything ever again.

Except for one thing – she did start to feel very lonely, and watching all of the groups of people passing in front of her, chatting and laughing together, didn't help. Even so, she also began to grow very bored, so lacking any other kind of stimulation, she just continued to stare at all of the passersby. Most of them were adults, but occasionally she'd spot another kid, obviously taken way before their time.

The longer she watched, the more she began to detect a common theme with them all. It seemed as though they all had accents, all could speak Spanish, even their clothes all looked very similar. It was like literally everyone here was Hispanic in some way, if not just straight up Mexican.

Was this what the Mexican side of her family would call – The Land of the Dead? She didn't know very much about it besides the holiday that coincided with it: Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). And all she knew about _that_ was that it came after Halloween, and people liked to paint their faces like skulls. Maybe all of the hype around the holiday wasn't so far-fetched after all. . .

A million questions began to race around in her mind. If this place actually existed, but only Hispanic people could come here, then what about all the other races on Earth? Did each culture have their own afterlife? And if that was the case, what was she doing here? Shouldn't she have gone to an American afterlife? Was it because of _where_ she'd died? She wasn't sure, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she _really_ didn't belong here.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm so excited! We're finally getting to the 'good' part. It's always so tedious to get from A to B. I really hope you all have as much fun reading this as I did writing it!**

* * *

More time passed, and it seemed as though the flow of people began to decrease as well. As traffic slowly died down, Becca's mind began to feel tired with all of the contemplating. So, _do_ dead people sleep? They seemed to keep to a schedule of work, and then going home at the end of the day. Even though the sky didn't look any different, she figured it must be close to nighttime once she became one of the very last people in the plaza.

All of the lights in the area flickering off confirmed her suspicion. She thought about leaving and attempting to find a more comfortable place to hang out. But – where would she go? Becca had never even been _close_ to being homeless before. She had no idea what the proper procedure was, or if there even was one here. It felt as though she couldn't go forward, and she couldn't go back. She was stuck – in limbo.

She decided she wanted to lie down. Maybe if she could successfully fall asleep, then she might be able to dream of better times. Crawling back under the stairs, she figured she could at least try. If nothing else, it would at least help pass the time.

* * *

The sounds of movement and talking aroused Becca from her fitful dozing the next morning. So apparently she had fallen asleep at some point. She crawled back out from under the stairs, her hood falling back in the process. She wondered if the people who worked in the building would recognize her if they saw her on their way to work. She didn't understand how they could, not with _everybody_ looking just like Jack Skellington, so she didn't bother to replace it.

She spent the morning people watching again, seeing if there was anyone _she_ could recognize. It ended up being a fruitless endeavor. She hadn't been paying enough attention yesterday to be able to pick anyone out of a crowd. And any famous Hispanic people she knew about were still alive.

With the way people were ignoring her, she wondered if maybe she'd turned invisible during the night. Who knew what the rules were in this strange place? However, at one point, someone did stop long enough to place a coin on the ground right in front of her. She wasn't real sure how she felt about that, but she decided to reach out and pick it up anyway.

It didn't look like any coin she'd ever seen before, but then again, all she knew was that it wasn't American money. She hadn't taken a close enough look at the money her parents were using during their trip to Mexico. It could have been a Mexican coin, or it could have been some kind of strange afterlife money. Either way, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with it.

She didn't really need anything. Except for something to do, maybe. She slipped the coin in her jacket pocket, but then froze when she realized there was something else already in there. She grabbed hold and pulled it out. Several small white shells rested in her hand. She remembered – she'd picked them up off the beach while Trevor and her had gone exploring. Somehow they'd come here with her? Man, if only she'd had her Game Boy on her at the time! She missed her Game Boy.

Thinking about the beach made her think of the family she'd left behind. She wondered how they reacted when they found her – body. Becca was sure they must have been sad. She thought about them rushing her to the hospital, her mother being heartbroken when they found out she was – dead. What would come after that? Her funeral?

Becca shoved the thoughts out of her mind with a shiver. It was just too morbid for her to think about. She didn't want to think about her family. She didn't want to think about anything! She just wanted to disappear.

* * *

Even though he typically visited the gate plaza on a regular basis, Héctor found himself hurrying towards it a little faster than normal that morning. He was curious about what became of that girl. Had anyone helped her locate her family? Surely she couldn't still be sitting in the plaza, right?

He entered the busy area and looked over towards the stair case where he'd last seen her. Sure enough, she was still there! She didn't look nearly as scared as she had yesterday, instead she just looked – completely miserable!

Héctor felt a twinge of sympathy in his chest. Not to mention guilt. He'd been there before, and he should have done something about her yesterday, but he had thought for sure. . . Guess he should have known better. Everyone around here only seemed cared about their own family. But, why hadn't the gate staff found her yet? Well, he couldn't just leave her there now, guess he was going to have to do their job for them.

He walked over until he was standing right in front of her. She didn't seem to react at all, just continued to depressingly stare off into the distance to the side of him. On closer inspection, he could see that she looked a bit – different. Her hair wasn't black like most everyone else's. Instead, it was a dark auburn that fell down around her shoulders in loose ringlets. And her clothes seemed too – big – for her, like they were supposed to be for a boy. Her black sweatshirt had a big, white four leaf clover on the back, and there was some writing on the front that he didn't understand, and her dark cargo pants fit loosely around her waist.

She still didn't seem to notice him, so he tried a different approach, kneeling down in front of her and clearing his throat.

"Hola, niña," he said in the friendliest tone he could muster. She sure noticed him then, her head snapping around in surprise.

"Gah!" she cried out, and attempted to scoot away from him. However she didn't get far, since she was practically beside the wall as it was. She sure hugged it though, pressing her back flush against it.

"Whoa, whoa! Mis disculpas, I didn't mean to startle you," he told her. Putting his hands up in a sign of surrender. She just stared at him, eyes wide with uncertainty.

"I just couldn't help but notice you have been sitting here for quite some time. Por qué? Why haven't you tried to find your familia?" he wondered.

* * *

If Becca had, had a heart, it would have been hammering in her chest. No one had spoken to her for almost two days, and now this random guy just suddenly came out of nowhere. How had he snuck up on her like that? She must have been really out of it!

She didn't know what to do. He was squatting on the ground in front of her, looking at her expectantly. She realized she would have to say something.

"I – uh –" she stuttered out, her mind racing. What was she supposed to tell him? "I don't think I'm going to find any family – here," she confessed.

His expression went weird when he heard that, like he hadn't understood what she'd said. But, he could clearly speak English. . . Maybe it was her accent. He probably wasn't used to hearing someone who didn't have a Spanish accent.

"What do you mean, you won't find family here?" he asked, finally.

"I mean, I'm not sure how I got here – but I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be _here_ ," she clarified with a scowl.

"Of course you are. You're dead, mi amiga," he told her bluntly.

"Yeah, I already gathered that much, and that isn't what I meant. I'm not even sure where 'here' is," she clarified with irritation.

"This is La Tierra de los Muertos – The Land of the Dead," he paused for a moment, "Didn't your padres teach you about it?" he questioned.

"No, not really," Becca said, shaking her head.

He looked really confused at that. "What? Why not?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because – I'm an American!" she snapped. "Can't you tell?" she reasoned, giving him a skeptical look.

"Come to think of it, you do sound sort of funny," he admitted. Becca glowered at him. Look who was talking! "Americano, huh? That's strange. I don't remember ever meeting an American here before. Are you sure?" he asked with skepticism of his own.

What kind of question was that?! How could she not be sure? However. . .

"Well, I mean – technically I'm _half_ Mexican, but I was born and raised in America. I don't even know Spanish!" she confessed, an edge of panic to her voice.

The guy stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. It seemed as though he was finally understanding her predicament. "But, if you're at least half Mexican, then you should have _some_ family here. Ven, come with me back to the processing office. They can help you find out where you belong," he suggested, motioning for her to stand up.

But Becca didn't move. "My parents might not have taught me anything about _this_ place, but they _did_ teach me not to go anywhere with strangers," Becca pointed out as if that should be obvious. It was her round about way of saying: there was no way she was going anywhere with him!

"Oh, well, I'm Héctor," he told her, holding out his hand in greeting.

Becca gave the hand a doubtful look. Did he really think that just because she knew his name that she was going to trust him? He must have sensed her hesitation, because after a moment, he continued.

"Mira, I'm not going to hurt you, chiquita. I'm just trying to help," he attempted to reassure her.

Becca mulled it over for a moment. Honestly, what did she have to loose? Did she really want to just sit here by this stairwell for the rest of her – existence? However long that it may last? The answer was a resounding no. It was boring and lonely!

She blew out a big sigh. "Alright," she consented. "I'm – Rebecca, but everybody just calls me Becca," she told him, finally taking the outstretched hand. He shook it enthusiastically. She snatched her hand back almost too quickly, however. The feeling of bone on bone felt – unnerving!

Héctor didn't seem to mind though. He quickly rose and began heading back towards the big building. Becca got up, but only followed him for a few feet. It didn't take him long to notice that she was lagging behind.

"You coming, chiquita?" he questioned, flipping around to face her.

"We're going back there? You have any idea how hard it was for me to get away from those people in the first place?" she argued.

"Didn't seem to be too difícil for you," he reasoned with a shrug.

"Wait, you mean you saw me yesterday?" she asked, her nervousness returning.

"Sí, it's why I came to check on you again today. Those people inside were only trying to help, lo prometo," he encouraged her.

He had seen her, and then come back today specifically to check on her? Becca felt at a loss for words. That was so – nice! But why him when no one else seemed to care? Questions for later, she supposed. She hurried to catch up to him.

"Okay, but, once they find out I don't have any family here – what's going to happen to me then?" she asked. This was still a big concern for her.

"No te preocupes. I'm sure they won't have any problem finding your family. Now, let's go." If only Becca felt as sure as he sounded.

* * *

 **Feel free to review and let me know what you think. Especially if I've made any mistakes on the Spanish front. Critiques are always welcome, just as long as it's constructive! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I still can't believe the attention this story is getting. Just so you guys know it's super motivating for me to keep working! Even when the website keeps crashing and I have to keep checking back to see when it's gonna come up again. Would have posted this last night otherwise! Lol! Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Once inside, Héctor led her back the way she had come and straight to the office that she'd originally woken up in. This time, there was a man sitting at the desk. She wasn't positive, but Becca thought he looked like the guy she'd originally seen when she first got here.

"Hola Jorge!" Héctor announced as soon as he stepped through the door.

"Héctor?" The man behind the desk greeted skeptically. That is, until he spotted Becca. "Ah, I see you've found our little run away," he added with realization.

However, Becca remained pressed up against the far wall. She didn't feel real keen on getting any closer to the guy who had been chasing her yesterday.

"It's not like she went far. How hard did you try and look?" Héctor questioned, plopping into one of the chairs that was arranged in front of the desk.

"She could have gone anywhere! We figured if we just waited, she'd turn back up here eventually. And look, here she is, with you," Officer Jorge pointed out skeptically, like he wasn't sure how Héctor had convinced her to come back. She was still chewing on that one herself.

"I couldn't just leave her out there," Héctor reasoned.

"Fair enough. Come here, niña," Officer Jorge motioned for her to come sit down.

Becca shook her head. "That's okay. I'm just fine right here," she told him.

"This will go much faster and easier if you cooperate," he warned her. Héctor looked back to give her a reassuring smile.

Becca pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes – at least she would have, if she had lips. . . "Fine!" she snapped and rigidly sat down in the other chair.

"Ahora, give me your full name, por favor," he requested.

"Rebecca _Hansen_ ," she said, adding extra haughty emphasis on her last name.

"Hansen?" the officer asked with concern.

"That's right," she told him flatly.

He pressed several keys on his computer, probably typing in her name.

"No results for 'Hansen'," he said after a moment with dismay.

"What a shocker," Becca muttered under her breath.

"Wait, you said you were half Mexican. What about your mamá's last name?" Héctor wondered.

"Rodrìguez," Becca told him with a sly smirk, putting a Spanish accident on something for the first time since she'd been here.

Office Jorge typed it in. "Uh—" he hesitated.

"Don't tell me, let me guess. Now you have the completely opposite problem?" she remarked with false sympathy in her tone.

Officer Jorge looked from her to Héctor. "There are literally thousands of entries. Do you know any of your extended family's first names to help narrow it down?" he directed at her.

"No," she said with exasperation.

The officer looked at her like she was a mutant. Maybe that seemed really strange to him, but for an American it was pretty typical.

"You sound Americana. I don't think we've ever had a situation like this before. I'm not sure what to do with you. . ." Officer Jorge trailed.

"I told you – I don't belong here," Becca reminded Héctor.

He looked at her like he didn't know how to respond to that.

"Well," she said, getting up out of the chair with a sigh. She did her best to try and let go of the resentful attitude she was feeling. This wasn't their fault, after all. "Thanks anyway," she tried to give Héctor a sincere smile. "I appreciate you trying to help," she told him, and then quickly made her way out the door.

Héctor stared at the door the girl had just exited through, then back at Officer Jorge as if expecting guidance on what he should do.

"So, you're just going to let her leave?" Jorge offered.

At that realization, Héctor hopped up out of the seat and quickly hurried after Becca.

He caught up to her as she was heading towards the doors leading to the plaza.

"Whoa! Wait, wait, wait!" he requested, circling around in front of her and forcing her to stop. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked with concern.

"I'm going to try and find a way to get out of here," she told him honestly.

"What?!" he seemed to think for a second. "But, there isn't one. There's only the final death," he told her.

"What's that?" Becca asked.

"As long as there is someone in the living world that remembers you, you get to live here." He pointed towards the ground. "But if everyone who remembers you passes away, and no one passes down your memory, then you experience what we call the 'final death' where you disappear from this world," he explained.

Wait, so as long as she was remembered? Trevor was only nine! He was going to be around for a long time, and if they passed down her memory. It meant she really _could_ be stuck her for all eternity!

"Ugh! This can't be happening!" she moaned in despair. "I think I'm going to be sick!" she exclaimed.

Héctor gave her a funny look at her comment. "You can't be sick, chiquita. You no longer have a stomach," he reminded her.

Becca thought about that for a second, and then decided to check by lifting up her hoodie and T-shirt. Sure enough, nothing but ribs. She made an anxious groan in the back of her throat and pulled everything back down.

"Is there – any way to expedite that 'final death' thing?" she wondered aloud.

Héctor flashed her a really worried look at that. "You can't think that way, chiquita," he told her with concern.

"Why not?!" Becca demanded. Lifting her arms up and slapping them against her sides in protest. "I'm already dead," she pointed out in frustration. She felt her legs giving out, and she slipped to the floor onto her knees. "What am I supposed to do now?" she posed the question rhetorically, feeling like she was going to start crying again at any second.

Héctor could hear the defeat in her voice, and he felt another pang of sympathy run through his bones. It's exactly how he had felt when he'd first learned that his family had disowned him. He felt really bad for her. No kid should ever have to feel that way!

"You – can come to mi casa with me," he suggested after a moment.

For a second, Becca couldn't believe what she'd heard! She looked up at him with a dumbfounded expression. Before shaking her head.

"Why on Earth – or I guess, wherever we are – would you want to take me home with you?" she asked him with disbelief.

"What? I can't help a damsel in distress?" he asked with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

Becca narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm hardly a damsel in distress. More like a stray puppy," she realized with dismay.

"Perfecto! Everyone loves puppies," he joked, but Becca didn't really find it funny.

"Héctor, you don't have to—" she tried to tell him. He hardly even knew her! She shouldn't be expecting him to do her any favors.

But he didn't give her the chance to protest. "No discutes! Come on, it won't be so bad," he told her, taking her arm and pulling her to her feet.

Well, she figured nothing could be worse than sleeping alone under a stairwell.

* * *

Becca followed along behind Héctor as he strolled out of the building and eventually towards the exit of the plaza. Her wandering eyes were taking in all of the sights as they went. Everything was just so colorful here – and loud! They could hear music practically everywhere they went, accompanied by dancers, street performers, and artists of all kinds. It made Becca wonder where the business men or scientists were. Possibly in all of the buildings they were passing.

As they moved away from the more populated areas, Becca began to notice that she wasn't the only one staring. Since she wasn't able to blend in with a large crowd, she seemed to be standing out more and more as people watched her pass by.

Eventually, she realized it was probably her hair. _Everyone_ here seemed to have black hair and brown eyes, except for the older people who's hair had gone gray with age. It was a stark contrast to her brown hair and green eyes. None of them actually had skin anymore, but Becca had never felt so _white_ in her entire life. At least she wasn't blonde! However, that didn't stop her from self-consciously pulling her hood back up over her head and walking just a bit closer to Héctor.

Continuing on, he began to lead them into darker and more dank areas. While it had been brightly lit in and around the plaza, here it seemed to devolve into perpetual night time. The colorfully painted buildings gradually began to be replaced by dark, cold stone. Héctor ducked into an alley way, which made Becca feel nervous about where they were going. Not wanting to be left alone in the dark, however, she reluctantly followed.

The alley then opened up into what Becca could only describe as a slum. The area seemed to be totally flooded, with run-down looking shacks sitting just above the water. They were connected by a sketchy looking walkway made of planks of wood. Since there were no street lamps – for obvious reasons – the people here were using lanterns to light the area, as well as lights on wires strung up along their roof tops, like sad Christmas decorations, she thought.

"Hola Chorizo!" Becca heard someone call out. It seemed to come from a man who was sitting at a table on one of the porches. She could only assume he was speaking to Héctor.

"Hola Chuy," he replied wearily. He didn't seem real fond of the nickname.

The guy's eyes swiveled, noticing Becca behind him. "Hey, did you know you have a little shadow following chu?" he asked.

Héctor turned to find Becca with her hood up, skulking along behind him. He grabbed her and dragged her around in front of him, pulling off her hood in the process.

"Atención por favor, this is Becca," he announced to everyone there.

Becca had an overwhelming urge to tear away from him so that she could put her hood back on. She was not comfortable with all this attention on her. Instead she remained frozen where she was. Freaking out might come across as rude.

"Becca, this is mi familia," Héctor explained.

"Everyone here is your family?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"Well, not in the literal sense. We all just call each other family since we have no other family here, and no one to put our pictures up on an ofrenda," he explained – sort of. If this was where Héctor lived, it certainly helped to explain his wardrobe.

"She doesn't have any familia?" A woman asked him. Héctor shook his head. "Oh, pobrecita! Come here – let me get a look at you."

The woman then grabbed a hold of Becca and pulled her so she was right in front of her. She gripped her face and began a full inspection. "She's so young. Such a shame! No te preocupes, pequeña. I'm sure your parents will put your photo up on the ofrenda for you," the woman assured her.

Becca gave her a dubious look. "I – really doubt it. Seeing as how I was raised in America, and I have no idea what that means," she explained bluntly.

There it was – that stare again. Everyone was looking at her like she'd just grown a foot out of her forehead.

"Well, slap me thrice and hand me to my momma! You've brought home a gringa!" that Chuy guy exclaimed.

Becca glared at him. "Your bones are just as white as mine are!" she snapped at him, ripping herself out of the lady's grip. "And I don't appreciate getting yanked around. I'm not a rag doll, ya know!"

And with that, she flipped around and stormed off towards a darker area of the make-shift village. Once again, she didn't know where she was going, but this time she didn't care! At the moment, anywhere would be better than here. Apparently, she had figured wrong.

The slapping of footsteps behind her altered Becca that someone was following her, probably Héctor. He grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Hey, chiquita. Lo siento, Chuy didn't mean to insult you, he was just surprised," he tried to explained, but Becca wasn't having it. Seriously, what had she just said?!

"Let go of me!" she warned him darkly.

He looked taken aback by her tone, but released her arm.

"And would you stop calling me that?! I'm twelve, not five!" she snapped at him.

"I – I know this probably isn't what you're used to–" he tried to continue to placate her, but she cut him off.

"Not what I'm used to? Well that's the understatement of the day! When I died, I expected to go to heaven! Not to some Mexican purgatory!" she shouted at him, loud enough for others to hear.

He flashed her a hurt look, but she didn't care. She just turned on her heel and rushed off into the dark.

* * *

 **Just so you know, I felt really bad writing those comment she made! :.( Bet you don't feel so sorry for her now. . . Becca how could you! :P**


	5. Chapter 5

**So, we finally get our first song in this chapter! Time for my title to live up to it's name. It might be a little on the nose, but I like it. I hope you do too! :)**

* * *

Becca sat for a long time at the edge of the walk way, using the dim lighting to stare at her reflection in the water below. It was the first time she'd been able to get a look at her new face. She had ringlets, like flower petals, circling all the way around her eyes and a decorative spider web design on her forehead.

She'd seen that everyone else had some kind of facial markings, so she'd been wondering what hers had looked like. If it hadn't been for the fact that she was a little creeped out that all this was painted directly on her skull, she would have thought of the patterns as – well – pretty. Almost like she was wearing makeup. Her parents had never actually let her wear makeup before.

Becca sighed. She knew what she'd said to Héctor had been mean. But she did not feel bad about it! Well. . . okay, maybe she felt a little bad. He'd been nothing but kind to her, taking her in when she had no where else to go. And how did she thank him? By straight up insulting his home, not to mention his culture! She wouldn't be surprised if he didn't bother coming to look for her. She probably wouldn't want to come look for her either.

Eventually, she began to grow restless. She wondered what 'time' it was. She turned around briefly to see that all the people had retreated into their homes, probably turning in for the day. She sighed again. At least it was much more peaceful here than in the bustling plaza. She just really wished she had something to do, like her game, or even some music to listen to.

That actually gave her an idea. She might not have her CD player anymore, but that didn't mean she couldn't make her own music. She thought about it, and tried to come up with an appropriate song for her current – situation. A good one immediately popped into her head, and for the first time, she wouldn't be singing it ironically. She took a deep breath and softly began to call out into the night.

 _Hello darkness, my old friend  
I've come to talk with you again_

 _Because a vision softly creeping  
Left its seeds while I was sleeping_

 _And the vision that was planted in my brain  
Still remains – Within the sound of silence_

 _In restless dreams I walked alone  
Narrow streets of cobblestone_

 _'Neath the halo of a street lamp  
I turned my collar to the cold and damp_

 _When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light  
That split the night – And touched the sound of silence_

* * *

Héctor didn't know what to do. How long did you give a preteen to cool down when they were upset? Hours? Days? He'd _never_ had to deal with this before. Not with Coco being so young when he'd – left.

"Augh! Americans! Always so dramatic!" Chuy scoffed when he came to sit back down with his friends.

"More like disrespectful! That girl deserves a beating!" Perla lectured with clear irritation.

"What good will that do? Not like we can feel pain like we used to," Chuy reminded her.

"Well, something needs to be done! If that little escuincla is going to stay here, she needs to learn some respect for her elders," Perla continued.

"Maybe, I should try to find her – talk to her," Héctor suggested quietly.

"That won't teach her a lesson! I say, let her sit out there until she comes back to apologize!" Perla snapped.

Héctor wasn't sure if he could do that. Sure her words had hurt, but a part of him could understand. This wasn't exactly a five-star hotel. And the other part of him was _hoping_ she hadn't really meant what she said. . .

"If she even is still out there," Chuy motioned towards the dark. "After what she just said, you really think she'd stick around?" he reasoned.

Héctor felt a small wave of panic when he realized Chuy might be right. What if she had run off? Who knows what could happen to her out there. He thought he should go look for her, but, where would he even start? He was beginning to get Jorge's point.

"Maybe if you hadn't insulted her!" Héctor shot a glare at Chuy.

"Eh, she's too sensitive. She won't last long here if she can't handle a little novatada," Chuy reasoned.

Héctor rose with a scowl. "I'm, going to take a walk," he said. He didn't think they'd believe that, but oh well! He had no idea if he was going to be able to find Becca, but he had to try. It was better than just sitting her worrying.

Chuy and Perla just looked at each other as he stalked off in the direction Becca had taken.

Héctor didn't actually have to go far. After a minute of walking he began to hear something. It sounded like someone singing. Who would be out singing in the middle of the night? As he got closer, he began to make out the words.

 _And in the naked light I saw_

 _Ten thousand people, maybe more_

 _People talking without speaking  
People hearing without listening_

 _People writing songs that voices never share  
And no one dared – Disturb the sound of silence_

He saw a figure sitting at the edge of the walkway with a white, four leaf clover on their back, and he realized it was Becca. She was the one singing? She stood up as she continued, her voice getting louder.

 _Fools, said I, you do not know  
Silence like a cancer grows_

 _Hear my words that I might teach you  
Take my arms that I might reach you_

 _But my words, like silent raindrops fell  
And echoed in the wells of silence_

Héctor walked up behind her, but she was so into her song that she didn't notice.

 _And the people bowed and prayed  
To the neon god they made!_

She sang out loudly into the dark. Héctor reached out and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Uh, Becca?" he said hesitantly.

She let out a shrill squeal in surprise, and quickly flipped around to she who had touched her. Yet in doing so, she lost her footing and ended up tumbling backwards into the water below with a sizable splash!

"Huy," was all Héctor managed to say. He scrambled to the edge of the walkway and peered into the inky, black water, trying to find her.

* * *

Becca stared up at the surface of the water for a moment, trying to piece together what had just happened. She had been too focused on singing. She needed to learn to pay more attention, because this was getting ridiculous!

She swam up and broke the surface, grabbing on to the edge of one of the wood planks. She noticed Héctor a few feet to her left, staring down into the water.

"Would you stop doing that! You're gonna give me a ha– " but she didn't finish the sentence when she realized what she was saying. "Never mind," she added quickly.

As soon as he saw her, he rushed over to help, but Becca didn't exactly wait for him. He knelt down next to her as she pulled herself out and resituated on the walkway.

"Becca! Are you alright? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to–" she held up a hand to stop him.

"It's okay. I'm fine," she assured him, and flicked her wrists to try and shake off some of the excess water.

It didn't do much as her oversized hoodie was now completely soaked. She rose and pulled it off before attempting to ring it out, exposing her bright, pink T-shirt underneath. It helped, but only a little. She wasn't really strong enough to ring it out thoroughly. So she threw it over the nearest post to dry.

"You, have a beautiful voice, amiga," she heard him say from behind her.

It made her flinch. She felt her face heat up with embarrassment and shame.

"Oh, um. Thank you," she said, turning to look at him. "How long were you listening?" she asked hesitantly.

"Long enough. Think you woke up the whole neighborhood," he told her with a chuckle.

"Great!" she said with mock enthusiasm, sitting back down next to him. "So, know any good nearby holes that I can crawl into and never come out of?" she asked sarcastically.

"You mean, besides the one we're in now?" he asked, eying her.

Ouch! Guess she deserved that.

"Héctor, about what I said I–" she hesitated for a moment. "I'm really sorry. That was way outta line," she admitted.

"You are?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"Well, yeah. I just – overreacted to what that guy said. Doesn't mean I should take it out on you," she unexplained sadly.

Becca wasn't sure if she actually felt cold from being wet, but she found herself trying to ball up. She crossed her legs and put her hands in her lap, hunching over to try and be as small as possible.

A long silence passed. Becca didn't feel like there was anything else she could say to make it better. She was still amazed he was even here at all.

"So," Héctor said, finally breaking the stillness. "That song you were singing – it sounded kind of sad," he mentioned.

"I did just die. Aren't I allowed to be depressed? It's one of the five stages, right?" she reasoned.

"Five stages?" he asked.

"You know, the five stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression." She rattled them off, counting on her fingers. "Think I might be skipping around," she realized.

"Did you write it?" he wondered.

"What? That song?" she asked in surprise. "No! It's by Simon and Garfunkel," she said as if that should be obvious, but he just stared at her like he didn't know what she was talking about. "You don't know Simon and Garfunkel? What, have you been living under a rock?" she asked skeptically.

"I haven't been living at all," he reminded her.

"Okay, fair enough, but you've been – around." Becca circled her hands in the air. "Do they not play _any_ American music in this place?" she wondered.

He shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I'm not really a fan of music," he admitted.

"What?! How can you not like music? Everyone likes music. I mean – it's everywhere," she argued.

"I – have my reasons," was all he would tell her as he looked sadly away.

"But–" Hadn't he just complemented her on her singing? It didn't really make sense, but he looked upset, so she decided not to press it. "Okay," she consented and looked back out towards the water. She wasn't really sure what to do now.

They heard the sound of a light clicking off behind them, and it got just a little darker.

"Looks like it's time to go inside, vámonos," he said, and got up to leave.

Becca watched him out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't move. He only took a few steps before he noticed she wasn't following.

"Are you coming?" he wondered at her.

Becca frowned in confusion, and flipped around to face him.

"A-are you serious?" she asked with incredulity.

"Yes – why do you always sound so surprised?" he asked with his own skepticism.

"I guess I had just thought— I mean after what I— Why would you. . ." she trailed off. She couldn't quite get the sentences out. She thought for sure she'd burnt that bridge!

He smiled at her flustered speech. "You apologized. I forgive you. Now let's go. You need to get dried off or you'll get bone rot," he warned.

As much as Becca didn't like the sound of that, she still hesitated. "Really, just like that?"

"Why not just like that?" he reasoned.

Becca got a wild look on her face. "Well – because – if I had mouthed off like that back home – my parents would have kicked me out and told me that if I didn't like it that I could go find somewhere else to live!" she exclaimed. He gave her a dubious look. "Okay well, maybe not _my_ parents," she admitted. "But it's not an uncommon thing," she told him.

"People don't care about family in America?" he asked in surprise.

"Not to this extent. Not to the point where they put up pictures of dead family members on a – of—" she couldn't remember the word.

"An ofrenda?" he offered.

"Yeah – that – what even is that?" she asked, not trusting herself to try the word again.

"It's like a–" he snapped a couple of times, putting a hand to his head. Becca guessed he was having trouble finding a comparable word in English. "A 'shrine' – for dead family members. It gets decorated with things that related to the family when they were in the living world. It's what allows us to cross the bridge to visit the Land of the Living on Dia de Muertos," he explained.

Becca gave him an uncomfortable look. "That's – a bit creepy," she confessed.

"For you, maybe. Now, are you going to come inside, or are you going to make me drag you?" His exasperation with her clear.

"Uh – no – that won't be necessary." She got up to grab her hoodie and followed him down the path and into one of the houses.

* * *

 **References:**

 _ **The Sound of Silence**_ **\- by Simon and Garfunkel**

 **Although, I picture her singing more along the lines of the Disturbed version. The way they've mastered that song is AMAZING!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Read the Disclaimer!**

 **Disclaimer: The information regarding the ages of the characters in this chapter have been taken directly from the official Disney Wiki page. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm just going based on what I figured out through research. I don't necessarily understand it, but there you go.**

 **Now without further ado - Chapter 6!**

* * *

Once inside, Héctor immediately went to work setting a fire in his fireplace. Becca just stood in the entryway surveying the area. It was a really – modest – house with only one bedroom and a main living room. When she thought about it, she figured having a bathroom or a kitchen was no longer a necessity here, so why have them?

It didn't take him long to get a good blaze going. It not only provided light, but warmth as well. He set a stool next to the fire and indicated that she should sit down. Without a word, Becca took the seat. He then took her soaked hoodie from her and traded her for a blanket. He hung up the hoodie over the fire before taking a seat in a nearby chair.

Becca wrapped the blanket around herself, grateful to have the cover. Seeing her exposed bones still kinda weirded her out. She also just felt awkward in general. Héctor was still being nice, and trying to take care of her, even though she _really_ didn't feel like she deserved it. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, or say, except for maybe. . .

"Héctor," she said timidly.

"Hmmm?" he questioned, looking over at her.

"I just – wanted to thank you – for everything," she told him.

"Don't even worry about it," he said smiling, waving off her comment.

Even so, Becca was worried about it. She stared deep into the fire with a heavy look on her face. It seemed like every time she had one of her questions answered, a dozen more would crop up to take it's place. Even every step she took was undetermined, with the next one always remaining in uncertainty. It was like being in a constant state of 'where do I go from here'?

Héctor picked up on her brooding attitude. "Hey, would you relax? You're making me nervous, chi—" he cut himself off. Probably not wanting to get snapped at again.

Becca looked back at him and smiled. "You can keep calling me that, if you really want to. I'm sorry I yelled at you for it," she told him.

"I – never meant it as an insult. It's just – what I'm used to. My little girl was so young when I left, I—" he froze, apparently realizing what he'd just said. He looked carefully over at Becca, wondering if she'd picked up on that.

She had.

"You – have a daughter?" she asked. If that was the case, it would help to explain some things.

He shook his head. "I – don't wanna talk about it," he said quickly.

"I thought you said you didn't have any family," Becca reminded him.

"Well – that is –" he stuttered.

"And you told me the only way to leave this world is if no one remembers you in the living world. So obviously there's someone that remembers you. Is it your daughter?" she added.

He looked pretty flustered as Becca continued to unravel his story.

"Also you complemented me on my singing, and then told me you didn't like music. What's up with that?" She gave him a sly half-smile. He glared at her.

"Just how long do you plan on keeping this up?" he asked irritability. "Little sabelotodo!" he muttered under his breath.

Becca didn't know what that meant, but he seemed to be mad at her now. She probably shouldn't be pushing her luck.

"Uh – I'm sorry. I should just mind my own business," she corrected, going back to her brooding.

Héctor signed. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, or like she couldn't talk to him. It had been so long since _he'd_ had anyone to really talk to, he was afraid he'd forgotten how.

"Why so curious?" he finally asked her, sounding less cranky. She gave him an unsure look, then quickly looked back at the fire.

"It's nothing," she said nervously.

"Ay! You wouldn't stop pestering a second ago, and now you won't talk to me?" he complained.

"Well—" he seemed to be sincere, so she ventured forward. "It's just – you've been trying to help me, and invited me here and everything, but – I don't know anything about you. And every time I've tried to ask, you've either made something up, or just brushed me off." She paused for a moment to think.

"I don't know what you – plan on doing with me, or how long you're going to let me stay here, or anything!" She just felt so unsure about everything, and it scared her. "But, I'm here for now, and I just thought it might be nice to – learn a little bit about you?" she suggested carefully. Couldn't he see that she just wanted to _know_ somebody, so she didn't feel so completely alone?

Héctor stared at her for a long moment, thinking. Why would he do anything with her? And why would she think there was a time limit on how long she could stay? It seemed like everything he took for granted as a given, she assumed the complete opposite. He realized that if Americans were really as selfish and self centered as she claimed, then all this would seem strange to her. He sighed again, what harm would it do to tell her the truth? Besides it being painful for him to talk about, but she was already piecing it together anyway. . .

"You sure you want to hear the sad story of Héctor Rivera?" he asked.

Becca's response was to grab the stool she was perched on, and drag it all the way over to where he was sitting. She looked up at him expectantly.

He let out a soft chuckle. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you, chiquita. The truth is – I used to love music, so much so that it's what I did for a living," he confessed.

"So, you were a singer-songwriter?" she asked.

"That's right, and I had a dream. A dream to play my music for the whole world."

"Isn't that every musician's dream?" Becca asked.

Héctor narrowed his eyes at her. "You gonna let me tell this?"

"Sorry." Becca looked embarrassedly down at the floor and tried to stop interrupting.

"Problem was, I also fell in love, and together we had a beautiful baby girl. I didn't want to give up on my dream, but my wife, she wanted to settle and put down roots. I was working with a fellow musician at the time, and he convinced me to leave and go traveling with him," Héctor said.

Becca looked up at him in surprise. She opened her mouth to comment, but then closed it when she realized she'd be interrupting again. It was just, after everything he'd just been saying about the importance of family, she couldn't believe he would just leave his like that.

She didn't actually have to ask, because he seemed to pick up on what she was thinking. "I know, it was a stupid thing to do. Actually, after several months of traveling, I got really homesick. So I tried going home, but–" he paused. Seemed like he didn't want to continue, but Becca waited patiently to see if he would. "I never made it."

"Because you – died?!" Becca couldn't contain her horror. She couldn't image what it would be like to lose her father. It would have been devastating to their whole family.

He nodded that she was correct.

"How – how old were you?" Becca asked carefully. "How old was she?!" she added, quickly realizing that was the more pertinent question.

He looked up at her questions and seemed to study her for a minute. Again, Becca waited for an answer, not sure if she was going to get one.

"I was – twenty-one," he told her slowly. "My daughter – was three."

That wasn't very much time, especially when you were a baby. "You were only twenty-one? That's so young. . ." He had just barely been able to start his family. It didn't seem fair.

"How old are _you_?" he suddenly asked her, breaking her musings.

"Oh, uh, twelve," she said.

"Nine more years than you got, chiquita," he reminded her.

Becca glanced down at her arms. "Oh – right," she muttered, mentally slapping herself. She had been so focused on Héctor's story, she'd almost forgotten. This whole after-life thing was pretty trippy.

"I never should have left! Music ruined my life! My family – disowned me because of it. I never got to see my wife, or my little girl again. I can't even cross the bridge on Dia de Muertos, because they refused to put up my photo. What I wouldn't give to be able see my Coco. . ." he trailed off.

Héctor sat staring off at nothing for a long moment, before remembering he wasn't alone, and looked back up at Becca.

She was watching at him with huge, anime-like streams of tears pouring down her face. "That's so sad!" she blubbered out. "I'm sorry I was singing!"

"Don't be," he told her simply.

Becca sniffed hard and swiped at her eyes.

"What about you?" he asked her.

"What about me?" she wondered.

"Que pasó?" he gestured at her.

Becca had to think about that one for a second. She silently repeated what he'd said, mouthing the words. She lit up when she figured out what it meant.

"Oh! Yeah – guess it's my turn." It was only fair, after all.

"Ummm, we were visiting my mom's family in Mexico. She said she hadn't seen them in a really long time. We took a day trip out to a beach in Puerto Vallarta. Things were fine, until my little brother got restless. He wanted to go exploring, so I went with him down the beach. We eventually got to this cliff. There was a grass hill along the back that led up to the top." Becca was motioning with her hands to demonstrate the sheer cliff and the slope behind it.

"He wanted to see what was at the top, so I followed him," Becca shook her head. "Stupid kid. Before I knew it, he was dangling off the edge of the cliff, cuz he thought he saw a bird's nest or something. So I ran over to pull him back away from the edge, which I did, but then–" this time it was her turn to pause. Remembering what had happened was still scary.

Héctor didn't rush her though. Just sat, silently waiting for her to finish. It was probably obvious what had happened by now.

"The edge of cliff broke away, and I – fell," she managed to get out. Becca reached up to feel the back of her head. Sure enough, there was a crack in the back of her skull where she'd hit. It made her shiver. She took a deep, shaky breath to steady herself so she wouldn't start crying again.

Héctor instinctively reached out to put an arm around her, but then remembered what she'd said before about that and decided against it. He dropped his arm back down to his side.

"You sacrificed yourself to save your hermano. Eso era muy valiente," Héctor told her.

Becca smiled but shook her head. "You make it sound more noble than it was. It was just an accident – a mistake. I didn't plan on dying to save him."

"But, if you hadn't, he'd be the one here instead of you," he pointed out to her.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. That would have been worse, I think." Better it was her than her little brother – lost and scared in this strange world.

"It's terrible that you had to pass away so young, but, at least you have an end you can be proud of," he assured her.

Becca just blinked at him. "Okay – if you say so," she acknowledged slowly.

Neither of them said anything for a while after that. Both were absorbed in their own thoughts, each reflecting on their own sad situation. However, to Becca, it sounded like Héctor's story was much more tragic. She wished there was something she could do or say to help him feel better. She then decided it wouldn't hurt to try.

"For what it's worth," Becca began, shifting her gaze back up to him. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. It sounds like you were a really good dad."

"Not good enough. A good padre would have gone back to his daughter," he said sadly.

Becca placed one of her hands on top of his much larger one. "Héctor, it wasn't your fault. You were _trying_ to go back," she reasoned with him.

Héctor stared awkwardly down at her hand for a moment, before casually shrugging it off as he got up from his chair.

"Voy a tomar un poco de aire," he mentioned as he left the room.

Becca had no idea what that meant either, and she was left wondering why _he_ was acting uncomfortable now? But then she was painfully reminded about her rag doll comment. She really needed to watch what she said from now on, lest she end up regretting it later.

* * *

 **I think we finally might be coming out of the heavy woods. Hoo! Things should start to get a little lighter from here on out. I think our characters deserve some happy events by now.**


	7. Chapter 7

**So, I've got a nice long one this time! Mostly because it's the way it needs to be to get the whole event across. Enjoy!**

* * *

The next morning – well she thought it was morning anyway. She was starting to pick up on the subtle changes of the skyline that determined the passing of time. Héctor was still nowhere to be found. Becca decided it might not hurt anything if she took a look around.

Redressing herself in her now dry hoodie, she poked her head out of the bungalow and peered around. There didn't seem to be much activity taking place yet, so she carefully began moving down the walk way. There were a few people out, busying themselves getting ready for the day. They all gave her suspicious looks as she passed. Becca pulled her hood up in response.

It didn't take her long to reach the spot where that Chuy guy and the older lady had been the night before. In fact, she was able to see them up ahead once again, sitting at the table on their porch.

 _Did they sit out here all night?_ She wondered.

Not wanting an awkward confrontation, Becca turned on her heel to explore in a different direction. However, she almost ended up running straight into Héctor in the process. She immediately froze when she saw him, and got at deer-in-the-headlights look on her face.

"Becca? Qué haces?" he asked with a confused look.

She hesitated for a second, before getting a weary expression. "What?" she asked. She was starting to get tired of all the Spanglish. Her vocabulary was extremely limited, after all.

"What are you doing?" he translated.

"Oh, um, just – looking around," she offered. It was the truth, but for some reason she still felt guilty.

"Bored?" he guessed.

Becca nodded. "What do you, ya know, do around here?"

He smiled and motioned for her to follow him. He walked past her and towards where the others were sitting. Becca really didn't want to, but she figured she'd have to deal with them again at some point. Might as well get it over with now.

"Buenos días Héctor!" Chuy called to him.

"Buenos días!" he returned the greeting.

For a second, Becca thought she might be able to sneak by without incident. No such luck.

"Escuincla!" the lady said suddenly. Becca flinched at the voice, but then turned to face her.

"I can only assume your speaking to me?" she stated more than asked.

"Feeling better?" she wondered.

Becca was, surprised, to say the least. She had been expecting a lecture, not an inquiry of her well-being.

"Uh – yes ma'am," Becca replied respectfully. The lady looked slightly impressed at her words.

"Thought you might, after your song last night," she gave her a wry smile.

"Oh gawd!" Becca whined quietly, pulling her hood down farther. "If I could just – vanish – right now. That would be great!" she muttered.

That caused them all to laugh.

"Don't worry about it. Been a long time since we've had a serenade. And you're not bad, guerra," Chuy told her.

Becca narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with me being white," she said.

"It just means 'white girl'," Héctor explained.

"You don't know? Don't you speak Spanish, chamaca?" Chuy asked in surprise.

"Your name calling hasn't already answered that question for you?" she replied smartly.

He shrugged in confusion. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What a great question! Heck if I know. Let me know if you come up with anything," she gave him a fake smile. Becca could really feel her sarcastic side coming out around this guy.

"She's only half American. Her mamá es Mexicana," Héctor explained.

"And she didn't teach you anything?" the lady asked Becca.

"Well – I can count to ten. I know a few words, but they're basically the ones every American knows." She hesitated for a second, wondering how much she should admit. "And. . . I know the swear words," she confessed sheepishly.

"You're mamá taught you curses?!" she exclaimed.

"No. . ." she trailed again. "But that's how it always is whenever you learn a new language. You learn the cuss words first. I learned them from George Lopez. I'd watch him on the comedy channel – when my parents weren't home," she quickly added, adverting her gaze.

"Ah! Jorge Lopez! He's a funny guy. Can't wait for him to die," Chuy said with a grin.

Becca gave him a concerned look. "That's – kinda dark," she decided. He shrugged again.

"So, you gonna be hanging out with Chorizo?" he asked.

"Okay, and we're leaving now. Hasta Luego!" Héctor said suddenly before quickly guiding Becca away from the others.

* * *

As they were headed down the alley out of the land of the 'nearly' forgotten, Becca lifted her head so she was staring directing up at Héctor.

"What's that mean, anyway," she asked.

"It's – a kind of sausage," he said.

"And – you're not gonna tell me why they call you that, are you?" she guessed.

"You'll find out sooner or later, and since it's up to me, I'd rather it be later," he told her, continuing to usher her along.

Once they were back out into the main bustle of things, Héctor took the lead with Becca trailing along uncertainly behind.

"Come on. Keep up, chiquita," he told her. So Becca hurried until she was walking next to him.

"Hey Héctor, where are we going, anyway?" she asked.

"Well, you said you wanted to look around," he told her. Becca grinned up at him. He was taking her exploring! She was okay with that. "We'll have to hitch a ride to get to some of the more exciting parts of this place," he explained.

He lead them to a station that looked to be for some kind of cable cars. They were stopping at the little station for people to file out, and then took off once they had filled up again. It seemed to all be automated. People would scan what looked like little cards across the surface of a turnstile, and then it would unlock for them to pass. Reminded Becca of the trams back home, except these cable cars ran on thick wires that carried them through the air like a ski lift.

However, instead of heading to the line to get on, Héctor lead her over to the edge of the walk way they would run along before talking off.

"Think you can make it?" he asked, motioning to the little platform that was on the back of one of the cable cars as it passed by.

"What?!" Becca squeaked in surprise. "You want me to jump on the back of one of the cars while it's moving?" she asked skeptically.

"Takes money to ride inside, chiquita," he said with a shrug.

Becca watched as another car passed by. "I don't know. This sounds kind of illegal to me," she pointed out.

"Eh, lots of people do it, and nobody really cares," he told her. "Oh, here comes the next one, get ready," Héctor warned, crouching down in preparation to jump.

Not wanting to get left behind, Becca followed suit. As the cable car passed by, she made a mad dash for it, leaping with all her might. She hit the edge of the platform with a thud that left an ache in her chest. She probably didn't need to jump _quite_ that hard, she realized, scrambling up over the bars that surrounded it to get inside. Oh well, at least she made it. Héctor followed quickly after. It was obvious he'd had a lot of practice at this.

"Hey, not bad, kid. You sure you've never done this before?" he questioned with mock suspicion.

"Well, used to jump onto a tire swing after it was already spinning, but jumping onto a moving cable car? No. My parents would have killed me if I'd ever pulled a stunt like that," she told him. The lack of a potentially, horribly painful death helped take some of the edge off, however.

"So, instead you'd just watch naughty TV behind their backs?" Héctor reminded her slyly.

"Hey, it wasn't that naughty!" she tried to argue.

He gave her a skeptical look.

"Okay, maybe it was, but I don't think I really got most of it," she added. "You know, while I was sitting under the stairs, part of me kept expecting somebody to come up to me and be like: 'Hey! Why you crying?'," she said with a grin, mimicking his stand up.

"Uh huh, who is this Jorge Lopez guy anyway?" he wondered.

"Oh come on! You can't tell me you don't know George Lopez. He's a super famous Mexican comedian!" she protested.

"Just because he's Mexicano doesn't mean I'm going to know who he is. Do you know every famous American person?" he reasoned.

"I guess that's a fair point," Becca admitted.

She spent the rest of the ride looking out over the incredible expanse that was the Land of the Dead. It was like they would build up, and not out, leading to towering structures that seemed to exist on individual islands. Hence the need for the cable cars, and of course, everything was brightly colored. It was really a sight to behold.

* * *

A few minutes later, the car began to slow as it began to pull into another station.

"This is our stop," Héctor said, hopping out as the trolley pulled up along side another ledge. Becca following quickly after.

"Welcome to the shopping and entertainment district!" he announced before heading off into the fray.

Becca did her best to stay close, but was happily mesmerized by everything she was seeing. It was like a giant, outdoor mall. There were clothing stores, equipment emporiums, tasty foods of all kinds, and little odds and ends shops. Becca liked those last ones the best, making part of her wish she had money to spend.

A large, flashy building suddenly grabbed Becca's attention. It had a neon sign perched at the top that brightly shown the words 'Sala de Juegos Recreativos'. Of course, she had no idea what it meant, but she didn't need to. The sounds coming out from the wide open doors was all the indication she needed.

Pew, pew, pew!

Clack! Clack, clack!

Thrrrrrrrrr, crash!

"Breaker, breaker - try again!"

All this and more was accompanied by the delighted squeals and laughter of kids, and it was as if Becca lost control of her own feet. She veered off, away from Héctor and towards the promise of fun!

"Hey! Where are you going, chiquita?" he called after her.

"It's an Arcade!" she announced excitedly.

"But, those machines take money," he warned, hurrying after her.

"I know. I just wanna take a look around," she assured him, waving him off.

Becca entered the building in a trance. She glanced around with glee at all of the familiar titles, weaving around machines and other kids so she could get the full effect. Héctor was following her, albeit slowly and hesitantly, feeling very out of place with all the flashing lights and loud, unfamiliar noises. He finally caught up with her when she abruptly halted in front of a particular machine.

"Really? They have 'House of the Dead'?," she asked skeptically pointing at the game.

Héctor glanced at the console to see what she was referring to. Decaying corpses and other horrific monsters were lunging at the screen, before being blasted down by an invisible gunman. He quickly realized that the user was supposed to be the gunman, as there were two brightly colored, plastic guns resting in holsters attached to the front of the machine. He grimaced at the idea of the game.

"Seems just a little insensitive, don't cha think?" she agreed, before continuing on.

Becca made her way towards the back, wanting to make sure she didn't miss anything. Music was emanating from one of the corners, and she noticed that it was real music, not just video game music. Her eyes went wide with awe and delight when she saw where it was coming from.

It appeared to be a massive karaoke machine, lit up like the 4th of July! The edges were glowing bright blue and green, with alternating neon pink and yellow surrounding the screen. It had a platform where you were supposed to stand surrounded by speakers that opened up to the room.

Currently, there was a kid who didn't seem to be too much older than Becca enjoying the music, the lights pulsing along with the beat. He was singing his own rendition of 'Paranoid' with a few others looking on eagerly. They seemed to get excited and holler praises to him every time he hit several notes in row with perfect timing.

Becca looked to the screen to see that it wasn't just a karaoke machine, but it was a game too. The screen was keeping score of how well he was hitting the notes on time and in what key. For the most part, he was doing a good job of being on time and in tune. The other kids around him would get excited when he'd hit a long streak, and have it seriously boost his score. However, he'd inevitably make a mistake and then the streak would reset. He didn't seem shy about performing though, showing off to his friends while he sang.

Once he was finished, the machine gave him his final score. " _Rock Star_!" It announced enthusiastically. The kid then stepped off the platform to the excited cheers of his friends.

"That was sweet Toni!" One boy said.

"No one can sing like you!" Another girl cooed enthusiastically.

"What is that?" Becca suddenly heard from above her.

Héctor was standing over her, his eyes shifting between her and the machine.

"Looks like some kind of karaoke game," she told him.

"He sounded pretty good, eh?" he commented.

"Meh, he's no Ozzy Osbourne, but it wasn't bad," she admitted.

The kid suddenly whipped around to look at her with a glare. Apparently he had heard her.

"Hey! You think you could do better?" he snapped.

"As a matter of fact – I _know_ I can," Becca informed him with confidence.

"Oooooooooo," the others behind him said ominously.

She'd always been pretty good at music rhythm games. Not to mention, her singing voice was nothing to shake a stick at.

"Oh yeah? Well, why don't you prove it!" he challenged, getting all up in her face.

Becca glanced up at Héctor. He subtly shook his head, but Becca wasn't one to back down from a challenge, especially if it involved video games!

"Alright I will," she told the Toni kid.

Héctor quickly took hold of her arm and pulled her away from the others. He leaned down so that he could whisper to her.

"But you can't, chiquita. You don't–" But Becca pulled away from him before he could finish.

She began rifling around in her pockets, before pulling out the coin she'd acquired from before. She brandished it for him to see with a grin.

"Where. . .?" he asked, but Becca just winked at him.

"One side, Jethro," she told the Toni kid, pushing past him towards the karaoke machine. She really hoped that this coin would be enough, or else she was going to feel really stupid!

Once on the platform, she saw that underneath the screen were some buttons and a coin slot. Perfect! She slipped the coin into the slot, relishing in the clink it made, and the guitar riff sound effect from the game once it registered.

" _Welcome to Karaoke Revolution! Please select your song!_ " the game announced in a loud, over enthusiastic tone.

Becca picked up the microphone and used the buttons to begin shifting through the available options. A lot of the music was American rock. She was a little surprised to find that was the case, but then realized that this game had probably originated from American, like most of the games in the room.

She finally decided on a song that she knew really well, and hit the center button to select it. She then turned around to face her audience. She didn't really the lyrics, after all.

" _Get Ready_!" the game announced. Music began playing out of the speakers, and she put the microphone up to her lips right before she dove into the first verse.

 _Well you're the real tough cookie  
With the long history  
Of breaking little hearts  
Like the one in me_

 _That's OK,  
Lets see how you do it  
Put up your dukes,  
Lets get down to it!_

 _Hit me with your best shot  
Why don't you hit me  
With your best shot  
Hit me with your best shot – Fire Away!_

 _You come on with a "come on"  
You don't fight fair_

 _But that's OK_

 _See if I care!_

 _Knock me down, it's all in vain  
I'll get right back on my feet again!_

 _Hit me with your best shot  
Why don't you hit me  
With your best shot  
Hit me with your best shot – Fire Away!_

Becca was smirking as she sang, and punched at the air with her free hand while she moved back and forth on the platform. She couldn't see what was happening on the screen behind her, but the other kids were looking impressed. Toni was looking worried.

 _Well, you're the real tough cookie_  
 _With the long history_  
 _Of breaking little hearts_  
 _Like the one in me_

 _Before I put another notch  
In my lipstick case  
You better make sure  
You put me in my place_

At this point, she noticed that the lights behind her seemed to be flashing brighter, but she didn't dare turn around to check, because it might mess up her mojo.

 _Hit me with your best shot_  
 _Come On, hit me with your best shot_  
 _Hit me with your best shot_  
 _Fire Away!_

 _Hit me with your best shot_  
 _Why don't you hit me with your best shot_  
 _Hit me with your best shot_  
 _Fire Away!_

As the final chords played out, Becca turned around to see that the machine was exploding with lights, like she'd just won the jackpot in Vegas! " _Perfect! New High Score! Rock god!"_ The game was calling out. Looks like she hadn't missed a single note.

Becca then walked over until she was right in front of the Toni kid. She then held out the microphone at arms length and then dropped it in front of him.

"OH!" the guys in the group called out. Becca then began to saunter away towards Héctor with a big grin on her face, but Toni wasn't about to let this go.

"Oh yeah, well, that was one of the easiest songs in the game!" he yelled after her.

Becca turned with a doubting look. "Right, and 'Paranoid' is just _super_ hard!" she retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Toni then began frantically glancing between her and Héctor, trying to come up with something else to save face.

"No one wants your kind around here anyway! So why don't you just crawl back into the scum box you came out of!" he shouted angerly.

Becca didn't even hesitate. She whirled on her heel and came stomping back over to the smart-mouthed kid, getting right in his face like he'd done to her.

"Dude, maybe that was a bit far," one of the boys behind him suggested.

"Cállate!" Toni snapped at him. He wore a smug expression. He knew he'd gotten to her.

"Becca, no!" she heard Héctor protest from behind her. She backed off a bit, but still continued to stare him down. Otherwise, she didn't move.

"Heh, that's what I thought." He closed the distance between them even more. "Now why don't you get out of here, and take that mierda with you," he muttered, trying to sound bad.

Now that was the last straw for Becca. She didn't care what Héctor said, this kid was going down! She reared her arm back and socked the kid in the face as hard as she could. However, instead of him falling over backwards, like she'd expected. His entire head came flying off! It soared across the room until it hit a pinball machine, putting it into a tilt.

One of the girls screamed. And a second later they heard another shriek from where his head had landed. "Antonio!" it shouted.

Meanwhile, Becca looked both surprised and pleased at the turn of events.

"Whoa! Gross!" she exclaimed. Unfortunately, she didn't get to savor in her victory for long. She felt a sudden yank on her arm as Héctor began dragging her back towards the entrance of the arcade.

"We gotta go, now!" he ordered.

Becca didn't protest or try to fight him. She just let him pull her along, out of the arcade and around the corner. She was trying her best to keep up, but between the surprise and the fact that his legs were much longer than hers, she kept stumbling behind him. She never fell though, his strong grip keeping her constantly upright.

She glanced back to see two burly looking guys in black suits dash out of the arcade and hurriedly glace around, until they spotted her and Héctor.

"There they are!" One of the men shouted, before they began to give chase.

Héctor must have heard him, because Becca noticed his pace quicken even more. He was ducking and weaving in between other people, trying to lose the men. All the while keeping a vice grip on Becca's arm.

They rounded a corner, and Becca felt herself getting yanked to the side as he pulled her into a narrow alleyway. He held Becca against him away from the opening, while they both waited in silence to see if they'd lost them. Both of their chests heaving from exertion.

After it was clear that they were no longer being followed, Héctor then turned to Becca with an angry scowl. He hoisted her up by the arm so that she was eye level with him.

"What did I say!" he lectured. Becca gave him a sheepish grin and shrugged.

"You always this much molestia?" he snapped.

"Huh?" Becca asked, cocking her head.

"Trouble!" he translated irritability.

"Oh – much more sir!" she told him seriously, but then giggled.

"I don't get the joke," he told her before dropping her back to the ground. She stumbled a bit before righting herself.

"It's from 'The Sound of Music'," she explained, but then realized what she said. "Oh yeah, that's right. _You_ don't like music," she said in a snarky tone. Then began to sing loudly again.

 _Climb every mountain! Forge every stream!  
_ _Follow every rainbow! There you'll find your_ –"

She didn't get a chance to finished the lyric before Héctor clamped a hand over her mouth.

"We're still trying to lay low!" he hissed at her.

"Sorry," she told him after removing his hand. "But I couldn't just let him talk about you like that, and not do anything about it," she argued.

"That's exactly what you have to do! There are some peligroso people out there, Becca! We can't afford to make the wrong person angry," he explained.

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Why not? What are they gonna do? Kill me again?" she reasoned.

"You ever hear the phrase: there are things worse than death?" he asked ominously.

"Fine," she consented. "From now on I'll be more careful before I go punching people's heads off." She then giggled again as she remembered how his head had looked sailing through the air. "You gotta admit, the look on his face was pretty funny though," she pointed out with a nudge.

"I've never seen anymore more surprised to get beat up," he agreed, and they both shared a laugh.

"I hope his friends give him a hard time about getting taken out by a girl," Becca said deviously.

"Well, let's just hope his padres aren't able to track you down," Héctor added.

* * *

 **Music References:**

 ** _Paranoid -_ Black Sabbath  
 _Hit Me With Your Best Shot_ \- Pat Benatar  
**

 **I hope this chapter was as fun as I promised!**


	8. Chapter 8

**So, I kind of added a cameo character in this chapter. He's not exactly how he appears in his original medium, but Kudos to anyone who can figure out where he's from!**

* * *

As they reentered the floating neighborhood, they were greeted with more of a welcome than Becca had been expecting. People were watching and smiling at her as she passed.

"Well, the Lloronita returns!" One lady said.

"We heard about you showing up the Domínguez kid. Good for you! That mocoso always got on my nerves!" Another man commented.

"Wow. Word sure travels fast around here," Becca said.

"Yeah, too fast!" Héctor lamented, putting a hand to his head and looking a bit concerned at all the remarks.

When they got to the table with his usual friends, Becca found that more guests had joined for the evening's activities.

"Hey, Chuy! What's with the 'Lloronita'?" Héctor asked him, joining the group. He motioned for Becca to take the empty seat next him. She looked around a little nervously at everyone, but then eventually complied, scooting closer to Héctor.

"Oh – Chicharrón came up with that after he'd heard her singing," Chuy motioned to an older, squatty looking gentleman who'd joined them at the table. The old man grinned over at Héctor. "Thinks he's hilarious," he added, looking a bit disgruntled. Becca guessed Chuy didn't like him stealing his joking thunder.

"Heh, heh, heh! So Lloronita, care to grace us with another song?" Chicharrón teased.

Becca shook her head so hard, she could hear her vertebrae rattle. He just laughed at her again.

"I'm more concerned about Becca's safety. How could you let her get mixed up with the Domínguez'?" Perla lectured Héctor.

"I didn't know! Plus it all happened so fast – I tried to stop her," Héctor defended.

"It's true, he did. It's just when that kid was insulting us like that – I lost my temper," Becca admitted. "Are they, important people?" she guessed.

"Not quite as much as they think. Raúl Domínguez is a singer. In life, he claimed to be the next De La Cruz," Chuy explained, rolling his eyes. "The kid you punched is his son. The whole family died while on some kind of skiing trip." It helped explain why the kid was so defensive of his singing skills, Becca realized.

"'Greatest musician of all time'," he continued, quoting in a snotty tone. "Yeah right. We all know who the _real_ greatest musician of all time is," Chuy said with a knowing smile.

"Elvis?" Becca offered as a guess.

"What's a Elvis?" Héctor asked.

Becca just gawked at him with a dumbfounded expression before looking around at the others for help. "He's kidding, right?" But she didn't wait for an answer. "You're kidding, right?" she asked Héctor directly. He just shrugged.

"Okay, maybe I can overlook the other things, but this is going too far. Is there something you're not telling me?" she asked suspiciously.

"What? You mean like the fact that he died in the 20s?" Chuy offered. Becca didn't think it was possible, but she found herself feeling even more surprised at this news.

"Wait – the 20s? As in the 1920s?!" she asked.

"Well, yeah," Héctor acknowledged awkwardly.

"Whoa, dude! You're like – ancient!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, gracias," he said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I'm sorry," Becca quickly told him. "It's just – it's no wonder you don't get any of my references!" she reasoned.

"Yeah, he hasn't been real good about keeping up with that," Chuy said.

"At least now I know," Becca mumbled. She looked up at Héctor in a new light. He had really been here, living in this place for _that_ long? It was no wonder his clothes looked as raggedy as they did! Becca felt a whole new kind of sadness for him. His daughter – she must be getting old, and he hadn't been able to see her in all this time? That just seemed so unfair. . .

"Well, I'd just be careful from now on if I were you," Perla warned her. "I've heard they have people watching the arcade to see if you'll turn up again."

"Looks like you're going to have to hide out for a while, chiquita. No telling how long they'll be keeping an eye out for you," Héctor told her.

While Becca didn't like the idea of hiding, she liked the idea of being stuck here with nothing to do even less! This was not going to be fun.

* * *

And it wasn't! For the next several days, Becca thought she was going to die of boredom! Héctor tried to help alleviate this by giving her several little jobs to do, but none of them were very interesting, nor did they last for very long. When she wasn't doing that, Becca would just wander around aimlessly, listening in on the adult conversations. Unfortunately, most of those conversations were in Spanish, so not much room for entertainment there.

Eventually she did confront Héctor about it.

"Can we _please_ go do something?" she moaned. "I'm wasting away here!"

"Eh, better not. I've heard that they're still talking about you in the shopping district," Héctor explained. Becca gave him a very irritable pouty face. "Lo siento, chiquita, but you should have thought about that before attacking that Domínguez kid," he reasoned.

"I didn't know!" she growled out in frustration, but it didn't matter now.

Becca wasn't sure what he'd meant by a 'fate worse than death', but she'd pretty much decided that nothing could be worse than this! Maybe if there was someone who was closer to her age, but children who passed away at her age were a rarity. And of course, they all had families to hang out with, therefore – you never saw any of them around here! So, later that day when she thought that no one was paying attention, she snuck away from the neighborhood.

Several minutes later, Becca found herself back in the land of the – more lively. She managed to find her way back to the trolley that lead to the entertainment area Héctor had shown her before. This time, instead of just walking by the stores, Becca took the opportunity to explore inside of them. She began poking around clothes racks, studying the interesting shirt designs and shoe styles, before eventually leaving once she got too many suspicious looks.

Like she had figured before, her favorite stores were the ones with the strange odds and ends. She loved looking at sculptures of mythical creatures and smelling the different fragrances of burning oils. Not to mention all the cool dew-dads she could mess around with. However, it seemed that no matter where she went, mariachi music was following her. It was playing in all of the stores and by all of the street performers, didn't they know any other kind of music?

As the day worn on closer to evening, she started to wonder how long it would take for someone to notice she was missing. Probably Héctor would realize it first. She started to feel kinda bad about running off. Would he be worried? Would he try to come and look for her? She wasn't sure, but she was thinking she should probably start heading back before she got into any kind of real trouble.

All of a sudden, a very familiar looking cat hopped in front of her path. Becca cocked her head at it, studying the creature. It looked just like the one that had lead her here in the first place. It gave her a single 'meow' before trotting over and rubbing on Becca's legs. She bent down to give it several pets.

"What is it kitty? You here to tell me to go home?" she questioned flatly.

The cat then sprinted over towards a random alley. It looked back at Becca, indicating she should follow. Becca just shrugged and ambled after it, wondering if it knew a quick way back to 'nearly-forgotten' land. After several feet, she began to hear something, something that sounded out of place in a world like this. And once she'd moved a little closer, that was when it hit her.

It was the sound of electric guitars, drums, and a heavy bass. And following that, the unmistakable words:

 _Uh!  
_ _Oh Yeah!  
_ _Uh huh!_

 _Jump back, what's that sound?  
Here she comes, full blast and top down!_

 _Hot shoe, burnin' down the avenue  
Model citizen – zero discipline_

 _Don't you know she's coming home with me?  
You'll lose her in the turn_

 _I'll get her!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

Becca wanted to run around the corner to see who was playing, but was almost immediately halted by a surprising yank on the hood of her sweatshirt. She was flipped around to find a very angry looking Héctor glaring down at her.

"What do you think you're doing here!? You have any idea how long I've been looking for you? I've been muy preocupado and – _what_ is that noise?!" he stopped his ranting long enough to ask once he noticed it.

Becca took the opportunity of his momentary distraction to try and lighten the situation a bit. "It's rock music. You wanna check it out?" she offered carefully, gesturing towards the end of the alley.

Meanwhile, this was playing in the background:

 _Ain't nothin' like it, her shiny machine  
Got the feel for the wheel, keep the moving parts clean_

 _Hot shoe, burnin' down the avenue  
Got an on-ramp comin' through my bedroom_

"No, I do not! We're going home, now!" he ordered.

"But this is _Van Halen_!" she emphasized. "I _have_ to see who's playing! Come on, it'll be quick!" she assured, this time grabbing a hold of him and pulling him towards the music.

Héctor didn't get a chance to protest, as the music began to drown out all other sounds. They came around the corner to see four guys rocking out on their instruments like they were at a concert filled with thousands of screaming fans. In reality, there were no spectators, so Becca guessed that this was just a practice session. It didn't diminish the talent they were displaying though!

 _Don't you know she's coming home with me?  
You'll lose her in that turn_

 _I'll get her!_

Becca began excitedly jumping up and down when the main chorus hit!

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Oh oh oh oh – Woo!_

The lead guitarist then went into a wicked solo that could have rivaled Eddie himself! Becca, was impressed, to say the least. Héctor still seemed a bit skeptical, which knowing what Becca now knew about him, made sense.

 _Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight  
I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off  
You reach down, between my legs  
N' ease the seat back_

 _She's blinding! I'm flying!_

 _Right behind the rear-view mirror now_

 _Got the feeling, power steering  
Pistons popping, ain't no stopping, Nooooow!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Oh oh oh oh!_

 _Panama!_

 _Panama!_

 _Oh oh oh oh!_

 _Panama!_

When they finished, Becca broke out into wild clapping and whooping. The four guys, not knowing they were being watched, began glancing around in confusion at the sudden praise. To help eliminate this confusion, Becca than ran up to their make-shift stage, waving at them with a big, silly grin.

"That was Awesome! You guys are Amazing!" she cheered.

"Hey, look at this, chicos. We gotta fan," the guitarist said with a smile. He knelt down on one knee to get a better look at Becca. She, in turn, got a better look at him too. He had long, straight black hair that he had tied back in a low pony tail and was dressed from head to toe in black leather. Not the kind of guy you'd wanna take home to mom, but he had a kind enough looking face.

Apparently Héctor didn't see that in him. "Becca, wait!" he called, coming up from behind her. His voice was full of concern.

"Hey, hey, hey! Check it out. It's Chorizo!" the drummer said excitedly, pointing one of his sticks at Héctor. That caused all the guys in the band to laugh.

"Ha ha! Yeah, very funny. Not like I haven't heard that a million times already!" Héctor snapped irritability.

"Why does everyone call him that?" Becca asked with her own irritation. She was tired of being in the dark.

"What – you're hanging out with him and you don't know?" the guitarist asked.

"Oh man, this guy is famous, because he died from choking on some chorizo!" the drummer announced, and they all started laughing again.

"UGH!" Héctor groaned spitefully. "I didn't _choke_! I got food poisoning!" he corrected, in a way that sounded like he'd done this several times before.

"Well that doesn't seem very funny. Food poisoning sounds like a really bad way to go," Becca defended.

It didn't seem to matter, however, as the guys continued to look at each other with big grins.

"Time to go, chiquita. I don't want you associating with these bums," Héctor told her, taking her hand to lead her away.

"Hey, come on! We're not gonna hurt 'er. Not everyday we meet a fellow fan of rock music, or at least someone interested in something other than mariachi!" the guitarist lamented.

"I know, right? What's with that? It's like everywhere I go is like a giant Mexican restaurant," Becca agreed. Héctor gave her a sour look at that. "What? Back when I was alive, that was the only time I would ever hear mariachi, or if someone accidentally hit the radio one station too far. Makes me want chips and salsa," she mumbled.

"So what's your name, chulita?" the guitarist asked.

"Rebecca – but everyone calls me Becca," she told him with a big grin. What she didn't see was Héctor bristling behind her at the pet name.

"Name's Ricardo, but you can call me Ranger," he told her with a sly smile and a wink. "And these fools behind me are José, Luis, and Francisco," he motioned to each one in turn. Becca gave them a shy smile and a wave.

"So, how'd you get to be an American Rock fan? You must not be from around here," Ranger joked.

"Actually, I'm from America," Becca explained.

"Oh, an American eh? Well no wonder. You must feel pretty outta your element around here," he guessed.

"You can say that again," Becca agreed.

"Hey, but what about your hoodie?" Luis the drummer asked. "Flogging Molly is Celtic Rock band, isn't it?" He indicated the text across Becca's sweatshirt.

"Yeah, well, my dad is Irish. He likes all rock, but he's an even bigger fan of Irish rock bands. He loves Flogging Molly. I got this when he took me to one of their concerts," she explained.

"So, you must know all their songs, huh?" Luis guessed.

"Yeah, you could say that," she confessed.

Meanwhile, Héctor was watching the whole exchange with a curious eye. He had no idea that the symbol on her sweater meant that she was half Irish of all things. He'd assumed the clover was just a random design. And the text on the front of it read the name of the band, 'Flogging Molly'? Seemed a bit crude to him.

"So what about you chulita, do you play?" Ranger asked her.

"I – uh – well," she stammered, before eying Francisco's keyboard. "My mom was making me take piano lessons before – this," she motioned towards herself. "But I don't really know anything cool, just classical stuff mostly." she told them.

"Well, let's hear it!" Francisco said eagerly, stepping away from the keyboard stand.

"Um –" Becca looked over at Héctor with uncertainty in her eyes. She wasn't sure how he'd feel about this. Not to mention, she wasn't completely comfortable about the idea of preforming for everyone, but he just shrugged.

"It's okay, chiquita. I wouldn't mind hearing you play," he assured her. After all, it's not like he would ever be able to get her access to a piano.

"Okay. . ." she trailed, climbing up on the stage. Becca wasn't too sure about this. Would any of these guys even like what she knew how to play? It was just so detached from everything else here, she wasn't even sure how Héctor would feel about it. Plus the fact that he didn't like music anymore. . .

Becca then seated herself in the tall chair in front of the electric piano. She took a deep breath, and then began to play out the 'Moonlight Sonata'. It was her favorite classical piece, after all. She had to concentrate hard on remembering the notes. It had been a while since she'd practiced.

They all just watched her in silence for a minute while she doled out the melancholy piece. She had to pause a few times on the harder passages, until she finally got to the point where she couldn't take the staring anymore. She stopped with a hard press of the keys.

"You guys sure you're wanting to hear this? It's kind of depressing," she realized. Especially after what they had just been playing.

"Well, you know anything more – lively?" Ranger suggested.

"Ah, I guess, but pretty much all classical music is boring. . ." she thought hard for a moment. "I do know how to play this one Irish song that my dad taught me," she offered. "But, it's a little silly," she admitted.

"Oooo, yeah! Let's hear some of that Irish heritage!" José encouraged.

"Oh, uh, I don't know. . ." she trailed, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head.

"Why not? You were just playing beautifully," Héctor questioned.

"Yeah, but this song is both playing _and_ singing," she explained.

"So – you didn't seem to have any problem singing at the arcade," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but – that was just a game. This is different."

Becca squirmed in her seat. What if she messed up? What if they thought the song was dumb? She wasn't sure she could do this.

"It's no different. You did great then, and I'm sure you can do great now," he reasoned. She had to wonder at why he was encouraging this. A few minutes ago he couldn't wait to drag her out of here, but she supposed as long as he wasn't mad anymore. . .

"Well, okay – if I can remember how to play it. You might actually like this one too, Héctor." Becca realized. She then interlocked her fingers and stretched out her arms to crack her knuckles. Then she put her fingers to the keys and started again.

 _I was walking in the city  
_ _When I heard a thumping noise  
_ _Outside the door a pretty girl  
_ _And some douche bag boys!_

 _I took her by the hand  
_ _And I beg her walk with me  
_ _For a stroll down to the pub  
_ _Where my ladies all drink free!_

 _I'm not much into Techno  
_ _Nor the Hip Hop, nor the Rap  
_ _And I can't dance to House music  
_ _I just can't stand that crap!_

 _So get back to your senses  
_ _And leave that awful club  
_ _And let's get pissed down at the pub!_

She eyed them all watching her after the first chorus, and everyone seemed to be grinning and enjoying it. She had hoped they wouldn't get offended since it wasn't making fun of Rock, just everything else. In fact, Ranger seemed to be able to pick up on the melody pretty quickly, and then joined her with his guitar.

 _Well I've heard your Lady Gaga  
_ _And your Kesha – Kayne West  
_ _It's kind of like choosing  
_ _Which cancer is the best!_ (They seemed to think that was funny)

 _Well I can read your poker face  
_ _You know gold-digger it's true  
_ _So let's dance a merry jig  
_ _Like me granddad used to do!_

Seeing as how they seemed to be liking the song, Becca felt more confident and began to really belt out the chorus in an obvious, Irish accent.

 _I'm not much into Techno  
_ _Nor the Hip Hop, nor the Rap  
_ _And I can't dance to House music  
_ _I just can't stand that crap!_

 _So get back to your senses  
_ _And leave that awful club  
_ _And let's get pissed down at the pub!  
_

 _I'm sure that your all thinking  
_ _That I'm far less than cool  
_ _But I'd rather be an Irish man  
_ _Than a big pop culture fool!_

 _I sing and drink like we've done  
_ _For hundreds and hundreds of years  
_ _No Appletini's! No Vodka Crans!  
_ _Just barrels and barrels of beer!_

 _I'm not much into Techno  
_ _Nor the Hip Hop, nor the Rap  
_ _And I can't dance to House music  
_ _I just can't stand that crap!_

 _So get back to your senses  
_ _And leave that awful club  
_ _And let's get pissed down at the pub!_

 _At least when we play a song  
_ _And when I try to croon  
_ _I can hit my notes  
_ _Without your bloody auto-tune!_ (Becca made a snarky face when she sang that part.)

 _They put it through a filter  
_ _So your ears, they can beguile  
_ _But you can't fool and Irish man  
_ _With true Celtic style!_

 _Hey!  
_ _I'm not much into Techno  
_ _Nor the Hip Hop, nor the Rap  
_ _And I can't dance to House music  
_ _I just can't stand that crap!_

 _So get back to your senses  
_ _And leave that awful club  
_ _And let's get pissed down at the pub!  
_ _Well let's get pissed at Patrick's Pub!_

When she had finished, Ranger turned to her with a grin. "Hey, that was great chulita! You ever think of joining a band?" he asked her.

"No, not really," she confessed, to Héctor's relief. He wasn't sure about her being involved with these guys.

"With a talent like yours? Por qué, no?" he wondered.

"Well, I always thought of it as more of a hobby than a job. Besides, I really don't like the idea of performing," she explained.

"But you perform great!" he reasoned.

"Just because you _can_ do something, doesn't necessarily mean you _should_ ," she told him.

"True words! Now, it's time to go. I think we've spent enough time with the holgazanes for one day." Héctor indicated that she should get down, so Becca complied.

"Hey chulita," Ranger called after her. She turned to face him. "If you ever decide to change your mind, we could always use another guitar player," he offered casually.

"But – I don't know how to play the guitar," she confessed.

"Really? Well, you should have Chorizo teach you! Heard that he was pretty good, back in the day," Ranger teased.

"Not happening! I don't play anymore," Héctor lectured, taking Becca by the hand and pulling her away. All she could do was shrug and wave a feeble goodbye.

On their way back to the tram station, a vendor with a cart of sweets happened to catch Becca's eye. Man! It felt like forever since she'd had sugar, or anything to eat for that matter. It ended up causing a powerful craving.

"Hey, can we stop for ice cream on the way?" she asked casually.

"What?! No!" he said forcefully.

"Awww, why not?" she pouted slightly.

"You ran away today, and then decided to hang out with some local riffraff! We are going straight home were I can keep an eye on you. It's gonna be a long time before you'll get to leave again!" he said with a rebuking tone.

"Wait a minute – are you, grounding me?" she asked in surprise. "What are you, my mother?"

"No, but by the time I'm done with you, I bet you'll wish I was!" he threatened.

* * *

 **Musical References:**

 ** _Panama_ \- by Van Halen**

 _ **Club 2 Da Pub -**_ **The Stubby Shillelaghs**

 **Not sure if anyone understood the significance of her hoodie before, but I guess everyone knows now! If you've never listened to Celtic Rock, I highly recommend it! It's like my most favorite kind of music.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! So, I know this chapter took a much longer time. But with the holidays and everything, I had a very busy last couple of weeks. (Plus I got several new games for my Switch for Christmas. One of which being HD Skyrim, so I've also been a bit distracted. As you can probably imagine if you've ever played an Elder Scrolls game! Lol.) Not to mention I put a lot of time and energy into this chapter. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I hope everyone thinks it was worth the wait! :D So without further ado. . .**

* * *

Héctor's idea of punishment was to make Becca help out everyone in the village with a random assortment of chores and odd jobs. Becca spent all day, every day, scrubbing, washing, fixing, sweeping. It seemed like there was no end to the people and the work they could provide for her.

When Héctor had told her she would wish he were her mother, he didn't know the half of it! Back home, she would've had to have committed a serious atrocity in order to be punished _this_ much. She didn't take it too hard, however, since Héctor didn't actually seem _mad_ at her, per say. She figured this was just his way of keeping her busy so she wouldn't get bored and try to sneak off again.

And bored she was not! She also did her best to not complain, because part of her felt bad for making him worry. Perla had actually pulled her aside that first evening when they got back so she could speak to her privately.

"Hey escuincla! You had better be careful, with him," she'd said.

"With Héctor?" Becca asked, not picking up on her meaning.

"He has already suffered enough pain for two lifetimes. Por favor, do not cause him more," she requested, fixing Becca with a serious gaze.

Becca swallowed hard, feeling the burn of shame in her chest. "Yes ma'am," she managed with a somber nod.

After that super fun guilt trip, Becca had resorted to doing exactly what she was told, which had ended up being a lot of hard work!

Now she was sitting in a chair at the table in front of Chuy and Perla's. Although, sitting wasn't really the right word. She had more or less melted into the seat – her head lolled back, eyes closed, and her arms hanging limply at her sides. She was so tired! She didn't even know she could feel this exhausted without having muscles, but there it was. Meanwhile, Chuy was laughing at her.

"Jeeze Héctor. I think you might've killed her again. Yo! You still with us Lloronita?" he asked.

"It's not funny!" she moaned out, not moving from her position.

"If you're that tired, why don't you go lie down?" he wondered.

"Cuz Héctor doesn't trust me to be alone," she told him flatly.

"Don't you think you're being just a bit hard on her?" Chuy directed at him.

However, Perla answered for him before he had a chance to speak.

"Not being hard enough if you ask me. If they don't have time to be bored, then they don't have time to be bad," she said with a poetic flair. Héctor just shrugged in response.

"Well, I've got something that may lift your spirits," Chuy then brandished several pieces of paper up in the air.

Out of curiosity, Becca made the effort to open her eyes and lift her head. They looked to be tickets of some sort.

"What are those for?" she asked.

"Tickets for la corrida de toros tomorrow night!" he explained excitedly. Becca looked over a Héctor for a translation.

"A bullfight," he told her.

"Really?" she asked, sitting up straighter. "And – you're planning on taking all of us?" she guessed. Becca had never been to anything like that before. A bullfight in the Land of the Dead sounded like it would be quite the show.

"That's right! Pretty cool, huh?" Chuy said with a big grin.

"Well, almost all of us," Héctor commented.

Becca felt a hurtful twinge of understanding that he was referring to her. She looked at him like she'd been struck. Was he really not going to let her go?

"Oh, come on man! Surely she's learned her lesson by now," Chuy argued.

Héctor looked down at the girl. Maybe Chuy was right. Maybe he was being a bit too hard on her. She hadn't made any kind of snarky comments or obscure references in a while. As he was getting to know her better, he started to guess that, that wasn't normal for her. Now he felt a little guilty – her gazing up at him with that dejected look. He had just wanted to keep her busy, not crush her soul! Dang! If she ever found out how well that worked, he'd be in real trouble!

"Okay, okay! You can go. But, no wandering off on me," he warned.

Becca nodded that she understood.

* * *

As the next evening rolled around, Becca could feel her anticipation increasing. It had been a while since she'd been excited for something like this. However, what she did not expect was the massive crowd that met them when they arrived at the arena.

"Whoa! Is it normally this crazy?" she asked. Her hair, now pulled back in a high ponytail, whipping around as she took in the scene. She'd also forgone the hoodie, just sporting her bright, pink T-shirt instead. The better for Héctor to see her with.

"Oh yeah. Just as popular here as in the Land of the Living," Héctor chuckled.

"Only here it's even better, cuz the bulls are much more impressive." Chuy rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"How so?" Becca wondered.

"Nuh uh, you gotta wait and see," Héctor told her mysteriously.

"I've never been to a bullfight before. It's not like I'm going to have anything to compare it to," Becca reasoned.

"Oh, believe me, niña. You'll be able to tell," Perla assured her.

Making their way through the crowd to get to their seats, Becca found that she was having a hard time keeping up. She kept getting jostled around and cut off from their small group. She had to keep rudely squeezing past people in order not to lose them. Finally, when she caught up enough that she could get right next to Héctor, she subconsciously reached up and took a firm grip on his hand. Contrary to the current popular belief, she didn't _want_ to get lost.

Héctor felt something latch onto him, and looked down to see Becca. She had one hand balled up into a fist and held against her chest. The other one was currently clinging onto him. He smiled at the sweet gesture. He gave her hand a reaffirming squeeze. She didn't look up. Her focus was on all the people around them, trying not to get stepped on. Even so, she began walking just a little bit closer in response. It all just seemed so – natural.

Becca didn't let go until they were safely in their seats. She parked herself comfortably between Héctor and Chuy. She watched as more and more people began filing into the arena, taking seats all the way around until the place was full to bursting. Becca had no idea this kind of thing was so popular.

"So, when does it start?" she wondered aloud.

"Anytime now, but they'll probably wait until most everyone is settled," Héctor explained. Becca nodded. "You know," he added. "This arena is almost exactly like the one they have in Mexico City."

"Is that one special?" she wondered.

"Biggest in the world!" he praised.

Becca looked from one end of the massive arena to the other. "Yeah, I can believe it."

A loud trumpet blast suddenly sounded, resonating throughout the stadium. Men on spirit horses, carrying lances then began parading into the center with music playing in the background. They were followed by other men on foot with intricate clothes and brightly colored capes, and some had brandished swords. They did a turn around the stage area, saluting the crowd as they went. The crowd was clapping and cheering with vibrant enthusiasm.

"This is really – elaborate," Becca hollered at Héctor over the crowd's roar.

"So, the men on the horses are picadores, the ones with the magenta and gold capes are the banderilleros, and the men with the red capes are the actual matadors," Héctor explained.

"Great," Becca said with mock enthusiasm, since all that really explained were who the matadors were. There were a total of three men who were carrying the red capes. So everyone else was just for show?

"I was kind of hoping the guys on the horses were jousters," she told him with a cheesy grin.

"'Lancers' is closer, since they're going to be fighting the bull, not each other," he corrected her.

Becca flashed him a sort of disappointed scowl. He noticed.

"Well – this isn't medieval times!" he added. That brought her grin back. She had been hoping he'd at least get _that_ reference. It was even more ancient that he was, after all.

After the procession had finished, most of the men left the stage area. It was just one matador, two of the mounted men, and three of the guys with the pink/gold capes. They all seemed to move to specific locations in the ring, and then waited. Becca wondered what they were waiting for, until there was another loud trumpet blast. Gates at the far end of the arena were pulled open, and in lumbered the bull!

Becca was shocked at it's size. It was at least twice as big as any cow she'd ever seen before! It had so much weight, that it's feet seemed to sink into the earth beneath it every time it took a step. The most intimidating part, however, was the fact that the creature was comprised entirely of bone! Ominous green plumes of smoke were wafting from its mouth, nose, and sides, casting an eerie glow onto the otherwise white sheen. Now Becca had never seen the skeleton of a cow before, but she was pretty sure there were more bones there than necessary, almost like it had armor. The entire stadium fell silent as the men in the ring readied themselves.

"This is the best part!" Chuy whispered with a giddiness that had Becca slightly worried.

"Those guys are actually gonna fight that – monster?" she asked.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. "There would be no challenge if they just fought a regular old bull. I mean, it's not like it can kill them," he reasoned.

"Okay, but, where does something like that come from?" she wondered.

"It's a Xibalba Bull. Where it comes from is apparently a 'trade secret'," Héctor told her, making air quotes. Great, so they're like demon bulls! Becca decided that this would be – interesting, if nothing else.

The guys with the pink and gold capes then began taunting the demon bull with their flashy cloaks. It uttered an angry bellow before charging at one of the men, who to Becca's surprise, was able to expertly dodge the attack. It was amazing that he could get out of the way in time! The massive creature then began to seem a bit confused, it's attention being pulled in multiple directions. It started to charge at each of the men in turn, shifting directions and acquiring a new target every time it's attack was avoided.

Finally the matador raised his hand, signaling for the others to stop. He had been watching the bull intently during the whole display. Now he stepped forward, readying his own cape as the others retreated.

"Toro! Toro!" he cried, getting the bull's attention.

The bull, now only having one primary target, began to unleash all of its ferocity on the matador. He made several close call passes, the matador twirling his cape in a different way each time. The crowd would let out a mighty cheer every time he successfully evaded.

The bull began to grow extremely angry at the noise, and the fact that he couldn't seem to hit anything. Eventually, he gave up on the charging. He squared himself, directing facing the matador. He dug in, reared back his head, and roared. As he did, a column of putrid, green flames shot out of his mouth. Becca felt her breath catch when she saw it. That sure wasn't something a normal bull could do!

The matador reacted quickly, dashing away from the threatening inferno. However, the bull just continued his onslaught, his aim following dangerously close to the matador's heels. He tucked and rolled, taking cover behind one of the few barriers in the ring. The flames erupted on the barrier, growing and spreading out around it. Until finally, the bull had to stop to take a breath. It had left some wicked scorch marks on the face of the barrier, but other than that it remained intact. It must have been made of some kind of metal, or flame retardant material, even though it looked like ordinary wood.

"Whoa!" Becca breathed, sounding impressed. She leaned forward in anticipation.

"See! Way better than a normal bullfight!" Chuy praised.

Down the in ring, the bull was pawing at the ground. He charged at the barrier, smashing it into pieces. Becca's eyes began wildly flying around the ring. What had happened to the matador? There was a sudden, excited shout from the crowd, and Becca watched as the matador stepped out from behind the second barrier.

"What?!" Becca asked in surprise. Héctor chuckled at her exclamation.

"He snuck away while you were distracted by the bull. They do it all the time," he explained. Becca nodded that she understood, even thought she still felt a bit skeptical.

It was at this point that the men on horseback came riding back out. Instead of just stabbing at the bull like Becca had expected, they began throwing the lances towards the bull, trying to get them to go through the few holes in its bony armor. Once a lance was set, it would stay inside due to the blocks at the end of each lance. They would then hang down through the bull and drag on the ground. Slowing it down and hindering its movement. Meanwhile, the bull was doing its best to charge and ram at the horses, trying to injure them or dismount their riders.

It managed to nail them in the flank a few times, but mostly it was just glancing blows. The horses were able to recover quickly, bucking and pawing at the bull in response. After they felt the bull was adequately slowed, they began to back off and the other guys came back. This time with their pink and gold capes worn on their backs.

They were carrying several sticks wrapped in brightly colored cloth. However, as they began to chase the bull around, Becca realized they were more like stakes. The men were trying their best to ram the stakes into the massive, bony shoulders of the bull. To which the bull was trying to ram them into paste! It made Becca start to wonder how much of this was being done because that bull was made of bone, and how much of it would actually happen to a normal bull?

"Is that normal? For them to be trying to stab the bull like that?" she finally wondered aloud.

"Si, it's all part of the show," Héctor told her.

"So this is something they do in a regular bull fight? Like with normal bulls?" she continued.

"Yeah, the point is to show off, but also to help weaken the bull."

"But, how is the bull supposed to fight in other shows if they hurt it that much?" she wondered.

"Oh, niña – don't you know? The matador always kills the bull at the end of every bullfight," Perla explained gently. Becca gave her a horrified look.

"That's terrible! I can't believe people in the living world like to watch this sort of thing," she said.

Chuy shrugged. "It's part of our culture."

"I guess. . . at least this bull is already dead." That was some small consolation, if nothing else. She wasn't sure if she'd be comfortable watching them kill a living animal.

Once they had attached several stakes to each side of the bull's shoulders, all the extra cape guys left the ring and only the lone matador re-entered.

"Toro, toro!" he called to the bull, who then began charging at the matador with a little less ferocity than before. Although, it was still roaring and breathing fire at every opportunity.

At the same time, the matador seemed to be taking riskier moves, getting especially close to it as it made its passes. He made a particularly impressive dodge move, which seemed to really excite the crowd.

"Ole!" Everyone shouted around her. Becca glanced around in surprise. So that's where that came from. . .

Finally, the matador then drew a sword that looked to come from inside the cape, and Becca realized that the cape was actually wrapped around and attached to a scabbard. This time, the matador himself charged at the bull with a shout that sounded like a war cry. He jumped and dove at the bull's head, driving the sword as hard as he could through the very center of its forehead!

Becca gasped and covered her mouth. She hadn't been expecting that!

The bull, now looking very confused and disoriented, began to stumble around until it eventually collapsed on the ground. Wasting no time, the matador sprang back at it. Pulling a thick, golden rope from off of his belt, he then gathered up the bull's feet as quickly as he could. He wrapped the rope several times around all four of the bull's ankles, tying it off with an impressive knot. Once that was finished, he rose, throwing his arms up in the air in a victory salute.

The crowd went nuts! They exploded into loud cheers, whistles, and a multitude of hoots and hollers. The people began tossing a variety of flowers into the arena, mostly roses, until they littered the ground around the matador.

"That was great! I think that time was a new personal best for him!" Chuy yelled over the roar of the crowd.

"Oh?" It was all Becca could think to say. She hadn't been aware that the matadors were being timed.

"Since they can't kill the bull, the time stops as soon as it's feet are tied," Héctor explained.

While the matador was busy drinking in the cheers of the crowd, a team of the spirit horses came out along with a few new guys. They hooked the comatose bull up to a special harnesses that the horses were wearing, and then dragged it out of the arena. There was a bit of fanfare with trumpets, and the matador picked up a large bouquet on his way out of the ring.

Once the ring was clear of the bull, people who reminded Becca of stage hands then entered and began cleaning up all the debris left over from the previous fight. They re-set it up with new barriers, and this time adding a very large roll of hay near the middle of the arena. Becca wondered what they were doing at first, until she remembered that there had actually been three matadors parading around during the opening ceremonies. She realized that must mean three bullfights. That giant mound of hay must have been added to make things more interesting.

Things basically progressed in a very similar fashion to the last fight. The only difference being that this bull seemed even bigger than the last one, and even more ferocious! Also this matador fought in a slightly different fashion, where he was much more focused on teasing and leading on the bull versus trying to finish him as quickly as possible. Much to the enjoyment of the crowd, they seemed to find his antics very amusing.

After the second fight was over, the show seemed to take an intermission period. Where the crowd began moving, mingling, and chatting quite loudly.

"It's not over, is it?" Becca asked just to be sure. After all, there had only been two fights.

"Naw. It's just break time, and snack time! You want something from the concesiones?" Chuy asked her.

Becca brightened at the idea. She hadn't had a chance to eat anything since she'd got here! And the thought of getting tasty show food made her mouth water, or as close to watering as a mouth could get without salivary glands.

"Sure!" she quipped with a grin.

"Here," he said, passing her a handful of coins. "Bring back some pipas and corn, and you can get something for yourself, too."

"Cool!" Becca pocketed the coins and quickly rose to make her way to the stairs, but didn't get far before she felt a hand wrap around her arm.

"Espera un momentito," Héctor told her. She turned to face him. "Be careful so you don't get lost, and hurry right back, entiendes?" he told her.

"Okay, I'll be careful," she assured him.

Becca made her way down the stairs and into the fray of the crowd. She began ducking and weaving in between people, looking for a line that would indicate a food stand. Eventually her nose was able to lead her to the desired destination. How could she smell without a nose? She had no idea.

She hummed patiently to herself while she slowly made her way up the line. Until her turn finally came. She peered at all the tasty looking treats, trying to decide what she wanted for herself. She eventually settled on cotton candy and was about to place her order, when another kid suddenly shoved her aside, pushing his was past so he was standing right in front of the cashier.

"Hey!" Becca protested loudly. "In case you hadn't noticed. It was my turn!"

The kid turned to face her with a sneer, and instant recognition hit Becca. It was that Toni kid from the arcade! It took him a second, but eventually he recognized her too.

"You!" he shouted accusingly at her.

Becca thumbed her nose at him.

"You're gonna pay!" he yelled and lunged at her.

Becca was able to back away quickly enough that he missed, but that didn't stop him from trying again. She was able to dodge once more before turning and dashing away. However, Toni wasn't going to give up that easily. He chased her through the dense crowd, slowly gaining through his blatant disregard for other people's personal space. Becca realized she'd need to change tactics before veering off and climbing over boxes and through barrels that were arranged along the back side of the stands. He perused.

Eventually, Becca made her way though enough to where she spotted an open door. She ducked inside. It seemed to be some kind of holding room, possibly where they might keep the bulls? Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to explore before Toni came bursting into the room behind her.

* * *

As time passed, and there was still no sign of Becca. Héctor began to grow nervous. She was taking too long.

"You're just being paranoid. I'm sure she fine. Probably just a long line at the food stand," Chuy reasoned, after he'd voiced his concern.

"You don't know that. Something could have happened! I should have gone with her," he lamented.

"She's probably just having trouble finding her way back through the crowd," Perla offered. "Why don't you go try and find her," she suggested.

"Good idea," Héctor agreed, quickly rising and acrobating his way down the stairs.

Chuy just shook his head after him. "He's gone loco over that kid."

"Well – can you blame him?" Perla argued. Chuy just shrugged in response.

Héctor didn't get very far, however. He was making his way down the isle when he bumped into someone quite unexpected. None other than Raúl Domínguez himself! They both froze when they saw each other, before recognition flashed with anger in Raúl's eyes.

"Domínguez," Héctor stated flatly, not showing to be the least bit intimidated.

"Rivera," Raúl said just as coldly. "Played any _games_ lately?" he asked in a jabbing tone.

"Not me. Don't have the time or the dinero for playing games," he answered coolly.

"Don't get smart with me. I know you're harboring that little urchin that assaulted my Antonio!" he accused.

"I'm not sure what you're referring to," Héctor said, continuing to play dumb. He didn't actually have any proof, only the word of his horrid kid, and a sketchy account from his "body guards", who were surprising absent at the moment. Besides, there was no way he was letting him get his hands on Becca!

"You just better keep a leash on that brat, or else next time, she's not gonna be so lucky," Raúl threatened.

"I'll keep that in mind – the next time I come across any 'brats'," Héctor told him, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. "In fact, that's probably good advice for you too, and that delincuente you call a kid."

Raúl visibly bristled and made a move as though he was going to try and attack Héctor, but then he reined himself back when he remembered how public of a place they were in.

"I'd pummel you until there was nothing left but dust! But that wouldn't be very good for my image," he hissed at Héctor before adjusting his fancy jacket. "So I'd watch my back, if I were you," he threatened.

Héctor felt a bit like a hypocrite, basically doing exactly what he'd told Becca not to do, but he couldn't help it. He didn't like the way this guy was threatening her, and he'd much rather have something happen to him than to Becca. . .

* * *

"I have you now!" Toni called menacingly to her, and started slowly advancing.

Becca kept her distance from him, matching his pace as she moved backwards.

"Really? And just what are you gonna do? Knock my head off too? Apparently they reattach, and there's no one here to laugh at me," she reasoned.

Toni seemed to focus on something behind her, which caused Becca to glace over her shoulder momentarily as well. They seemed to be approaching a drop off into some kind of pit below. Becca was forced to stop when she hit the edge. Toni got an evil little look on his face.

"No, I think I have a better idea!"

Toni ran up and pushed her, shoving her back so hard that Becca could feel herself losing her balance. She instinctively grasped out to try and catch herself, but just ended up grabbing Toni, pulling him down with her. They both tumbled over the edge and landed hard on the compacted dirt below.

"Ow," Becca moaned, rubbing at her tailbone where she had hit.

However, she did really have long to think about it, because she suddenly heard an irritated snort. She could feel waves of hot air blowing into her face. Becca opened her eyes and froze when she saw the massive, towering fortress of bones glaring straight down at her. The final bull!

She quickly realized with horror that they must have landed in it's holding pen, and she was sitting right in front of it! The monstrous creature was glaring down at her, and Becca was trying her best to be as still as possible.

She heard another moan near her, and looked over to see Toni push himself up off the ground. "Uh, what happened?" he said aloud.

The bull's attention quickly shifted. The additional noise and movement riling it further. It snorted again and let out a quick bellow before angerly pawing at the ground. Becca knew they needed to do something fast, or else they were going to end up as splinters, but her mind was blank with panic. All she could think to do was smile dumbly up at the thing.

"Uh – ha ha – nice moo moo," she tried weakly coaxing. Needless to say, it didn't work.

The bull reared up with a loud roar, and proceeded to try and charge. Now that it was do or die – again – reflex seemed to take over and Becca scrambled up and dive-rolled to the side, pulling Toni along with her out of the path of the rampaging bull. There was just enough room for them to squeeze against the wall as the giant stampeded his way through the gate and into the arena.

Becca heard a shrill cry of surprise and the pounding of hooves as the monster bull raced around the ring. She got to her feet once again and peered around, trying to find a way out. There wasn't one. The only way to go was through the now broken gate.

"What have you done?!" Toni yelled at her.

"Me?! You were the one who pushed me, you giant jerk-wad!" Becca snapped back. He didn't seem real concerned about her name calling though.

"We've got to get out of here," he realized.

"Oh really? And how do you propose we do that?" Becca asked sarcastically. Toni didn't respond, and just made a bee-line for the gate. Becca followed closely at his heels.

The arena seemed much bigger now that she was down inside it. A quick survey of the area told her that the bull was down on the other side, nervously pacing in circles, looking for something to destroy. This was their chance, if they could find a way out. She wondered if there were any kind of emergency exits or ladders that could get them back up over the wall. Toni had taken the liberty of dashing over towards the gate that the performers came through, trying desperately to open it. He showed no remorse or hesitation of leaving her behind. Typical!

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a way to open it from this side. Becca didn't know if it was for safety reasons or if there was just nobody there because the intermission technically wasn't over yet, but no one seemed to be responding to Toni's yells or his hammering on the door. Someone in the crowd did spot them though, and another horrified scream emanated from the audience.

* * *

Meanwhile, Héctor had still been arguing with Raúl when they'd been interrupted by a sudden loud crash and a scream. People were hollering and pointing frantically into the arena. So, being the curious and concerned person that he was, Héctor hurried over to see what the fuss was about. He almost lost his eyeballs at what he saw.

The bull had broken out of its holding pen, and was now charging around the ring. But that wasn't what everyone was so upset about. Two kids had also managed to get stuck down in the pit with the monster, and one of them was sporting a very familiar pink T-shirt.

"Becca!" Héctor shouted out in horror as the bull suddenly noticed the kids, and began to charge in their direction.

* * *

Becca heard Héctor call her name, just as the monster bull noticed them again. Now with a clear target, it didn't hesitate to begin pounding towards them with devastating intent. Instead of trying to get out of the way, Toni froze with terror. Becca began to picture in her mind the inevitable and tragic outcome of this situation if she didn't do something to help.

So once again, she dove at Toni, pushing him out of the way just before the bull made crashing contact with the wall. This time, instead of just smashing on though, the wall seemed to bend instead of break, bowing out before throwing the bull back.

Even so, she didn't have time to ponder why the gate didn't work the same way as the wall. They were too busy rolling along the ground. Becca managed to get her legs under her during her final roll so that she recovered in a kneeling position with one knee and one fist on the ground, and the other up against her chest, feeling very much like a video game hero.

"Ahh! Stop doing that! I don't need _your_ help!" Toni hollered at her, after he'd finished rolling in a much less graceful way.

"Fine! Next time that bull attacks, you're on your own!" Becca yelled back. She supposed she should have realized that him wanting to work together to get out of this was a long shot. Oh well.

Becca noticed some movement to her right, and was shocked to find that Héctor had jumped into the ring with them and was now sprinting towards her!

"Becca! What are you doing in here!" he demanded when he slid down next to her.

"Trying to avoid getting turned into bone meal," she told him like this should be obvious.

"I mean, why are you here!" he rephrased frantically.

"Well, it's not like I came in here on purpose! This ain't exactly a petting zoo!" she reasoned.

"We've got to get you two out of here!" he said.

Becca gave him a irritated scowl. "Why does everyone keep saying that like I don't already know!" she snapped.

But then, a strange thing happened. There was suddenly a lot of noise from the audience, and Becca realized that they were laughing. She glanced around to see that they were all watching what was happening in the ring. Could they – hear her? Wow, this place must have great acoustics if they could hear what she was saying.

The bull rounded and aimed another attack at the group.

"Scatter!" Héctor ordered as it came closer, and they all dove in different directions, confusing the bull.

A cheer rose up from the crowd. Becca chanced a glance around to see all the people in their seats. Did they think this was part of the act? She regrouped with Héctor behind one of the barricades.

"How are we supposed to get out? The gates are locked from the other side, and no one came to open them when Toni was banging on it before," Becca wondered.

"They won't open the gates with the bull loose. They won't risk it escaping," Héctor explained.

"So what now? Isn't there some kind of – safety measures – for this sort of situation? I mean, this can't be the first time one of these monsters has gone nuts," she reasoned.

"Normally they'd throw in a calming goat to lead it back into the pen, but it's not going to calm down as long as there are still – blancos," he told her in a worrisome tone.

"Huh?" Becca wondered.

"Targets," he clarified.

"You mean – _us_?" Becca asked. "Are you telling me that they're just going to leave us in here until that thing annihilates us?!" she demanded.

"That isn't going to happen. We just need to get to a wall, and then I'll be able to lift you and Toni out. If you stand on my shoulders, you should be tall enough to reach the edge," he said with a solemn resolve that Becca didn't like the sound of.

"But, what about you?" she asked.

"Don't worry about me. It's mucho más importante to get you kids to safety."

Becca stared at him in shock. If he was suggesting what she thought he was suggesting. . .

"I'm not going to just leave you here!" she exclaimed.

"You don't get a choice. It's better than the bull getting all of us!" he reasoned.

"I'm not abandoning you, Héctor! You can't _make_ me leave!" Becca said firmly with a hard look.

"Terca. . ." he muttered in frustration, shaking his head.

They heard Toni wail behind them as he was being chased by the bull. The crowd sounded like they were enjoying his flailing. Becca thought hard about their situation. How were they going to get out of this? She could only think of one solution.

"So I figure – the only way they'll open the gates is if the bull gets subdued, right?" she thought aloud.

"What? Chiquita, no! You're loco if you think you can. . ."

"Hey, we're already dead. So what do we have to lose?" she pointed out.

"What – did you have in mind?" he asked carefully.

Becca glanced around at the stands. "Well, we've already got the crowd's attention. So – to quote a very famous dead guy – 'It's Showtime!'" she proclaimed with a wide, cheesy grin.

* * *

 **So, another reason why this chapter took so long, was because I had to do a LOT of research about bullfighting to write it. I tried to be as accurate as possible with just a few changes to reflect the fact that it was taking place in the land of the dead. I was planning on including the entire bullfight arc in this chapter, but then it just started getting so long that I decided that I'd have to break it up into two parts. So sorry to have to end things on a - more or less - cliffhanger, but that just means I get to post this part now instead of later. Please let me know what you think. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Baby I'm back! :D**

 **Sorry for the long hiatus everyone! I'd just been having so much going on, and with me getting sick and everything. Anyway, finally after long last, here is the conclusion of the bull fighting section. Hope you enjoy!**

 **. . .**

Becca sidled along the edge of the barrier and peaked around the corner. Toni had the bull on the other side of the arena. So she dashed out from hiding and into the open. She began making faces at him and the bull, to the crowd's great amusement.

It didn't take him long before he figured out what was going on. Toni turned and glared at her. Then began dashing as quickly as he could back in her direction, bringing the monster with him. He zoomed past her, and Becca saw that the bull had zeroed in on a new target, her! She waited until the last possible moment, that she was comfortable with, and dove out of the way. The crowd cheered.

During this time is when Toni spotted Héctor. He had come out from behind the barrier and was staring at Becca and her antics in astonishment. Toni froze and levied a finger at him.

"You!" he shouted in an accusatory manner. "I order you to get me outta here!" he demanded.

Becca rounded on him with a scowl. "You can't talk to him like that! Just who do you think you are?!" she snapped. All the while trying to keep the bull in view. He was currently shaking off his last swing-and-miss.

"I'm a Domínguez, which means I can talk however I want!" he taunted back.

"Fine, talk all you want! But if you don't want my help, you don't get his help either!" Becca told him in a haughty tone. Toni narrowed his eyes at her.

Meanwhile, Héctor was busy trying to keep the bull away from the kids. Becca watched as he scrambled out of the way before the bull rammed hard into the wall, causing a vibration that shook the people in that area of the stands. Like a miniature earthquake! As he was recovering from his latest head-blow, Becca was forming another idea in her head.

"Hey Héctor!" she called out to him from across the arena. She saw him flash her a concerned look. "What do you call a Domínguez with half a brain?" She watched as his expression changed into a knowing grin as he was figuring out what she was doing.

"I don't know. What?" he asked.

"Gifted!" she shouted cheekily. The crowd roared with laughter. Even Héctor let out a chuckle at that one. This was starting to get kind of fun.

Toni, on the other hand didn't think so. "You'll pay for that peasant!" he shouted at her, but then was distracted by bull once again coming towards them. "Ahh! The bull!" he exclaimed, both of them dodging.

"Really? Is that what that was? For a second I thought it was your mother!" Becca added to her onslaught of insults.

"That's it!" Toni shouted.

He then ran behind one of the barriers, pulling out a familiar looking red cape. He yanked the hidden sword out of its scabbard and then began to charge at her with it. Becca looked slightly concerned before taking off in the opposite direction.

"Becca!" she heard Héctor call to her.

She looked up to see that he'd also found a spare sword behind the other barrier. Boy, these matador guys sure liked to be prepared. He tossed it to her as she ran past. She expertly caught it and turned around to face Toni. He was running at her with the intention of bringing the sword down on her head.

Now, Becca knew practically nothing about sword-play. In fact, her only experience was playing with foam swords with her little brother. Even so, she'd figured out enough to know that she could block his attack by holding up the sword sideways. The blades clanged off each other, and the crowd cheered at the sudden combat. Becca then brandished her sword at Toni while he was trying to recover. She began swinging it around haphazardly, but feeling really cool, in spite of herself.

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father! Prepare to die!" she quoted in a Spanish accent with a big grin on her face.

That didn't seem to generate any response besides a glare from Toni as he continued swinging his sword at her as well. There were more sounds of clinking mental as the swords brushed against each other.

Meanwhile, Mr. Domínguez was frantically running around and shouting at people. None of whom seemed super willing to do anything to help him or his kid.

"Rivera! You better get my son out of there, or so help me. . . !" he finally shouted at Héctor.

"Help you?! No gracias!" Héctor casually yelled back in passing, the bull hot on his heels.

"Now Rivera!" He was going red in the face.

"Why don't you come down here and make me?!" Héctor began gesturing in a 'bring it on' fashion. The crowd laughed at the exchange.

"Ooooo! Them's fightin' words!" Becca called out with a grin, but then had to re-double her efforts to keep from getting sliced by Toni's sword.

Apparently that was the last straw for Mr. Domínguez. He looked absolutely livid as he scrambled over the edge and into the ring himself. He immediately made a bee-line for Héctor, probably planning to take out his aggression on him. However, he soon found that it wouldn't be that easy, not with the killer demon bull trying to destroy anything that moved.

While they were sloppily swinging the swords at each other, Becca noticed that they were inching closer to the large hay bale that was still sitting in the center of the ring, and she got an idea. She suddenly retreated behind the bale before quickly scrambling to the top of it. Once there, she brandished her sword down at Toni with a theatrical air.

"You can't win, Antonio! I have the high ground!" she yelled down at him. There was no reaction from the crowd. She looked up at the thousands of faces in confusion. "These aren't the droids you're looking for?" she tried. Still nothing! Becca was shocked. "Oh, come on!" she protested loudly, stamping a foot in frustration.

"Star Wars is stupid!" Toni snapped from below her.

Becca gasped in a very insulted fashion. "You take that back!" she demanded.

"Make me!" he sneered at her.

"You little ingrate!" she yelled and dove at him. He stumbled backwards to try and avoid her attack. "Despite your valiant efforts, it is all in vain! My blade will taste blood tonight!" she shouted at him.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked, getting annoyed with the random banter.

"I'm being entertaining," she reasoned with a grin. "Are you not entertained?!" she shouted around at the crowd in the most epic voice she could muster. That actually got a cheer from everyone. However, Toni just continued to look frustrated.

"Will you stop quoting movie lines!?" he barked at her.

"Fine! Then what do you suggest we do? I'm running out of ideas!" Becca snapped at him.

"We need to stop the bull, stupid!" he sneered.

"Oh yeah? If you're so great, then go for it!" Becca offered as the bull began charging their way. Toni just screamed and ran from it. "Yeah, that's what I thought!"

He was right about one thing, though. Stopping the bull was the only way they were going to get out of here. Becca looked down at the sword in her hand, another idea forming in her head. She scrambled back onto the bale, and then waited until the bull came running her way.

As the bull came barreling closer, Becca grit her teeth and mentally psyched herself up. _Okay, this is just like the trollies. No big deal._ She knew she couldn't hesitate, so once it was right next to the hay bale, she pushed off and leapt toward the monster. She landed hard on its back and immediately dug her fingers in between the interlocking bones. It reared once at the sudden, unexpected weight before continuing his rampage, Becca hanging on with everything she had. The crowd went nuts, cheering wildly for her.

"Becca!" she heard Héctor call in surprise.

She whipped around to glance at him. Unfortunately, the bull heard him too, and began charging in the direction of the sound. It was so split second that Héctor couldn't get out of the way in time. Becca let out a scream as the bull plowed it's way straight through the middle of him! Bones went flying everywhere, followed by a chorus of cries and gasps from the crowd. The bull, now having finally connected with a target, seemed to calm a bit, trotting around the ring and shaking its head.

Becca was almost too afraid to look, but when she finally turned around, she was surprised to see that all of Héctor's bones seemed to be magically coming back together. He quickly rebuilt himself, finishing with popping his head back on the top of his spine. He waved his arms at the crowd and they cheered again. Becca flashed him a sort of confused, half-grin. That was sure a handy trick. It made her feel a bit silly for being worried.

Becca's attention was then brought back to her current situation when the colossal beast under her snorted and shook. It wasn't over yet. She took the sword she'd managed to hang on to in both hands and raise it up, ready to plunge it into its head. But before she could, the bull suddenly seemed to stumble to a stop. She could feel its massive sides heaving as it panted for breath as its shaking increased, and she felt a pang of sympathy for it. The poor thing was exhausted! She felt the sword getting heavy in her hands.

"What are you waiting for?! Do it!" Toni demanded, popping out from behind a barrier.

Becca shook her head. "No," she said flatly and slid down off the bull's back.

"Are you crazy?!" he shouted. "You _want_ that thing to pulverize us?!"

"It has nothing to do with that!" she yelled back.

Meanwhile, when Mr. Domínguez saw that they were out of immediate danger, he decided to take this opportunity to get back at Héctor.

"Rivera!" he hollered angerly and lunged himself at him, and they both went down. "You're going to pay for your impudence," he grunted as he struggled to get at him. Héctor was doing his best to fend him off.

"What about all the people?" he reminded him, his voice straining.

"They're too busy watching the bull to notice me break you in half!" he threatened darkly, increasing the pressure to try to get his hands around Héctor's neck.

It was true that every eye in the stands was glued to Becca as she approached the front of the nervous creature. As Héctor and Mr. Domínguez were fighting, she kept her focus on the bull. It was starting to act pretty squirrelly. It seemed to be much more confused than angry at this point. Perhaps it was because so many random things had been going on in the ring the past few minutes? Things that the poor bull was not used to at all!

It spotted Héctor and Mr. Domínguez, and looked as if it might try to charge again. Becca knew she had to create a distraction! Héctor didn't look like he was paying enough attention to dodge another rampage.

She ran around in front and yelled at the bull, lifting her arms to make herself look bigger. He looked at bit startled and scared at first, which seemed strange considering the monster was about the same size as a small house! However, he quickly spotted the sword she still had clutched in her hand, and his eyes narrowed. He snorted, green billows of smoke wafting around him, and began to paw at the ground again. Becca glanced over at the weapon as understanding began to dawn on her. Considering what that sword was normally used for, it was no wondered he hated the sight of it.

Becca began to feel really bad for the bulls. It wasn't their fault they were constantly getting attacked by matadors. And it wasn't their choice to even be here in the first place. It made her wonder what their existence was like before they were brought here. Did they like to run around in open fields like normal cattle?

The bull was still glaring at the sword and kicking up dust. So, Becca decided to do something that many people would probably have found very foolish. She chucked the sword out towards the arena, as far away from her as she could. She wanted to show this bull that she wasn't like the people who would always hurt it. And surprisingly, it seemed to realize that she was no longer armed, and calmed down.

That was it! That was their ticket out of here! She remembered Héctor mentioning something about a calming goat, was it? If she could get the bull to calm down, and back in it's pen, then maybe the arena staff would feel it was safe enough to let them out.

She held out one of her hands in a non-threatening manner, like when you wanted a dog to sniff you that you weren't sure about, and took a step towards the bull. An audible gasp came from the seats near her, but she didn't take her eyes off her goal. The bull looked anxious, but not angry, so she tried another step.

A sudden growl from behind her caused Becca to jump in surprise, which made the bull start stamping his hooves nervously. She cast a quick glance back to see the men still engaged in their ridiculous wrestling.

"Shut up!" she yelled at them with a glare. Couldn't they see that she was in the middle of something?

Both men stopped and looked up at her in surprise. They didn't seem to know how to respond to the sudden outburst, but at least they were finally quiet. A hush slowly fell over the crowd as well as Becca continued her experiment.

Becca reached out her hand once again, the bull looking increasingly agitated as she slowly approached. She realized with dismay that this wasn't going to work. If she was going to calm him down, she needed to do more. She glanced around at the crowd, feeling unsure. But then she took a deep breath and did the only thing she could think of.

(And so, by popular demand.)

 _Toro, I am humble, for tonight I understand  
Your royal blood was never meant to decorate this sand  
You've suffered great injustice, so have thousands before you  
I offer an apology, and one long overdue _

She sang out, soft and clear. The bull began to visibly relax.

 _I am sorry  
Toro, I am sorry,  
Hear my song, and know I sing the truth  
Although we were bred to fight,_

 _I reach for kindness in your heart tonight_

She closed the distance between them, until she was right next to his snout. Then the bull finally let her rest her hand on him. He breathed out a sigh as she continued to sing.

 _And if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love can truly live_

 _And if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love can truly live_

Becca put a light pressure on his nose, trying to encourage him to move. He slowly complied, and let her turn him towards where his pen was. She then began to move away, and he followed, trying to keep her hand pressed against him. He allowed her to lead him across the arena, drawn by the music.

 _Toro, I am frightened, but I'll use my final breath  
To tell you that I'm sorry, let us end this dance of death  
Two centuries of agony, that to your heart we sent  
Here and now with my amends, the senseless killing ends_

 _I am sorry,  
Toro, I am sorry,  
Hear my song, and know I sing the truth  
Although we were bred to fight,_

 _I reach for kindness in your heart tonight_

Once she'd gotten him inside the pen, he laid down and closed his eyes. Presumably to take a nap. Becca wildly waved her hands at the two men in the ring, trying to motion her intentions. They seemed to pick up on it, and were able to temporarily put their differences aside in light of the more pressing matter. They both dashed over to the nearest barrier to the pen, and began heaving it towards the entrance. Becca slowly backed away, singing the last chorus a little louder.

 _And if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love can truly live_

 _And if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love can truly live_

And if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love...  
Love will truly live

She hopped out of the pen, and they were able to slide the barrier into place just as she finished the last note. Once it was done, the doors on the opposite side of the arena burst open and about half a dozen guys that Becca assumed were employees, filed into the ring and dashed towards them. Meanwhile, the audience erupted into massive amounts of cheering and screaming, as if they'd just witnessed the greatest score in football history. Or the greatest score in futbol history, as the case may be.

"Becca!" Héctor called, getting her attention.

She turned to see him hurry over to her side, and he threw his arms around her. "I'm so glad you're okay." He pulled her back a bit so he could look at her. "That was increíble! I'm so proud of you," he told her happily. He didn't realize that she'd been paying that close of attention to him, but after hearing her song. . .

Becca grinned back, but the moment was short-lived, as she saw Toni's dad tromping over towards them. Héctor quickly grabbed her and pulled her around behind him.

"Don't even think about it, Domínguez," Héctor warned.

"I should have you both destroyed!" he hissed angerly, getting right up in Héctor's face.

"You really gonna try something now, in front of this crowd?" Héctor reminded him, gesturing around. "Besides, she just saved us all!"

Mr. Domínguez glanced around, as if just now realizing that they were surrounding by thousands of people. "Alright Rivera, you lucked out this time, but this isn't over," he threaten before turning and stalking away. "Vamos, Antonio!" he barked at his son. He immediately snapped to attention and chased after his father, but not before casting one last glare at Becca.

* * *

Once they had safely made their way out of the arena, Becca and Héctor met up with Chuy and Perla. There was still quite a bit of excitement going on around them after what had just happened. Perla began frantically fussing over Becca, while Chuy chatted enthusiastically.

"Never seen anything like that before. In all the years I've been coming here, that was something else. You're a ballsy Lloronita, aren't cha?" he was saying.

"Not like she had much choice after Toni pushed her in! I swear, if I ever get my hands on that little mocoso. . .!" she trailed off angerly.

"I'm fine though. It was actually kinda fun," Becca assured her, patiently sitting through all of her poking and prodding.

Héctor wasn't really listening though. His mind was preoccupied with Becca, and the events that they just experienced. He hadn't really thought about it at the time, due to everything happening so fast, but now – he was really surprised that she'd decided to stay with him. Was it just because she was still feeling like she had nothing to lose, or was there something more?

They headed out of the stadium for home. However, the group didn't make it far before they were suddenly stopped by a band of rag-tag, young adults. Becca recognized them immediately.

"Ranger!" she said excitedly.

"Hey there chulita! Caught your performance today. You were pretty impressive," he praised.

"Well, believe me, it wasn't intentional," she told him sheepishly.

Perla cast a nervous glance over at Héctor. He gave her a wave and a look that told her that she didn't need to worry.

"So, you mean it wasn't just part of the show?" Luis asked.

"What? Of course not! I was pushed into the bull pen by a bully," she explained.

"Looked to me like you took the bully with you," Ranger said with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, well, wouldn't you?" she reasoned.

"That was a nice song you sang to calm the bull down. What happened to not preforming?" he wondered.

"I – it was the only think I could think of to do," she defended. "I was just, trying not to get trampled."

"Ah, ese es un buen punto. So I got something for you," he told her and pulled a small, acoustic guitar out of a bag he had. He handed it to Becca, who took it gingerly.

"Uh – really? I can have this?" she asked, sounding shocked.

"Yeah, it's my old practice guitar. Been packing it around with our other equipment, just in case we ran into you again. I don't use it anymore, so thought you might want it," he explained.

"Yeah, definitely! Thank you! Er, muchas gracias!" she told him excitedly, holding the instrument tightly against herself.

"De nada. Practice hard now," he encouraged her, before giving Héctor and wink and ushering his band mates along.

Héctor narrowed his eyes at him as they left. He knew what he was trying to do, but it wasn't going to work. Not on him.

"Who were those guys?" Chuy asked curiously.

"Just some punks Becca met that day she ran away," Héctor explained casually.

"Hey! They're my friends, and they're really nice to me," Becca defended, strapping the instrument onto her back.

"I don't know, pequeña. They looked, un poco – ásperos," Perla said with concern.

"Well, the guy did just give her a guitar. How bad could they be?" Chuy reasoned.

 ** _. . ._**

 **References: _The Apology Song_ , by Gustavo Santaolalla**

 **So, I wasn't originally planning on using this song for the story. However, I just had so many people requesting it, and expressing their opinions that they would like to see it, that I hated to disappoint. Hope everyone is happy with the result. Let me know what you think! ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

Back at Héctor's shack, Becca was keeping busy messing around with her new gift. This was her first time ever playing a guitar before. She had seen other people playing them, of course, so she knew how to hold it, but that was it. She experimented with different sounds, holding down several combinations of strings and strumming with her thumb. However, for some reason, every strum was sounding pretty much the same. Becca frowned in confusion. She didn't understand what she was doing wrong.

Meanwhile, Héctor was secretly listening while doing his best at pretending not to pay attention. He wasn't going to tell Becca that she couldn't learn how to play, but at the same time he didn't really feel like getting personally involved. He heard her sigh in frustration from the other room. He tried to tell himself that she'd be okay, but it didn't really work. Eventually, his fatherly instincts were too strong for him to fight, and he found himself suddenly standing in the doorway.

"You need to press down harder," he told her flatly.

"What?" Becca asked, not understanding what he was referring to.

"You need to press the strings down harder, chiquita. Or else your chords are going to keep sounding all the same," he repeated with more clarification.

"Oh, you mean like this?"

Becca pushed the strings until she had them up against the neck of the guitar, and then tried strumming again. This time, the guitar let out a different sound. Becca grinned up at him.

"So, what do the strings mean? Is each one a different note, like the different keys on a piano?" she wondered.

"Not exactly. You play chords on a guitar, not notes," he explained.

"Can you – show me?" Becca ventured carefully, offering the instrument towards him.

He responded by putting his hands up and taking a step back.

"I don't play anymore, remember? Why don't you go ask Chicharron? He's been playing guitar for longer than I have," he suggested, trying to sound casual.

"But, you know how to play. Why can't you just teach me?" she asked with a pout.

"I – can't teach you to play like those guys," Héctor told her stubbornly, crossing his arms and looking away from her.

"I didn't ask you to teach me to play like them. I want you to teach me how _you_ play," she clarified more forcefully, giving him a hard look.

Héctor turned back for a moment to flash her a skeptical look, but then Becca's expression softened, looking up at him longingly, almost pleading.

"Please?" she asked earnestly, gazing up at him with big, round eyes.

Héctor could feel his convictions rapidly slipping away. Damn! Had he been this much of a push-over with Coco? He couldn't remember. Probably, though! He let out a long sigh. "Alright, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give you a few lessons," he consented wearily.

Becca's expression brightened as he took the guitar from her and sat down in his chair. He strummed it a few times before twisting one of the pegs on the end, listening carefully to the tune. Becca scooted the stool over, and he handed it back to her.

"Okay, how do I start?" she asked eagerly.

"Well, you put this hand here, and this hand like this," he said, positioning her hands so they were holding the guitar properly.

"Then you need to hold down certain strings to play different chords. This is to play the basic 'C' chord." He then moved her fingers so they were over the proper strings. Becca pressed them down and strummed with her other hand. It sounded kinda wonky.

"Remember, you have to push down hard, and flick the strings with more force," he strummed the bottom to show her what he meant. Becca nodded and tried again. "Okay – better. Now this is how to play the 'E' minor chord." He repositioned her fingers again, which turned out to be a little trickier.

"No, like this. No, no – you need to hold this finger here. No, not there – there!" The positioning was awkward, and Becca could feel herself getting frustrated already.

She huffed a sigh. "Ugh! This isn't working!" she whined.

"Well, what would you suggest?" Héctor asked, eying her.

Becca studied him for a moment. Then thought of something. She stood up from the stool, and without warning, turned around and plopped herself down right on his lap!

Héctor was – surprised, to say the least. He hadn't been expecting that! But as she settled herself on him, he felt a happy, warm sensation glowing in his bones. He couldn't believe she was comfortable enough with him to be willing to be this close. However, he supposed they had already been through a lot together, and he suddenly noticed the presence of a growing affection – one that he hadn't felt in a long time – not sense Coco. . .

"Kay, so, show me again," she told him, eagerly awaiting instruction, but when he didn't move Becca frowned and looked up at him in confusion, making sure everything was okay.

He coughed and cleared his throat when he saw her gazing up at him. "Oh, right. So – like this," he wrapped his arms around her and the guitar, putting his much larger fingers over her smaller ones.

He moved her fingers so they were resting on the right strings and pressed down with her, helping her strum the strings with the other hand. After he'd shown her the most basic chords, he moved onto combining them and syncing them to make a melody.

This went on for several hours, Becca picking things up pretty quickly until she could play a very simple song. Her previous music lessons were greatly helping her along. Héctor had not felt the desire to play music in so long, but this – this felt right, like he was passing his skills onto the next generation. He'd always wanted to be able to teach like this, but he'd never gotten the chance. It was like, she inspired something in him – something he didn't think he had anymore, making him feel like he wanted to create again.

* * *

Becca felt enthusiastic about the way things were going. _Feels like I'm getting the hang of this_! She thought excitedly. She was starting to really understand the feel of the instrument and the way the sounds were formed. She thought she could maybe pick out the notes on her own now. Héctor had leaned back to let her play on her own for a while, so she thought she'd try something out.

She wanted to try a folk song her dad used to sing to her and her little brother as a lullaby. Usually he just sang it acapella to them, but she though she might be able to piece out the notes – if she played slowly. So she began to sing, throwing in a note from the guitar every so often.

 _If I had another penny  
I would have another gill  
I would make the piper play  
The bonny lass of Byker Hill_

Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more  
Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more

The pitman and the keelman trim  
They drink bumble made from gin  
Then to dance they do begin  
To the tune of Elsie Marley

Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more  
Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more

When first I went down to the dirt  
I had no cowl nor no pitshirt  
Now I've gotten two or three  
Walker Pit's done well by me

Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more  
Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more

Geordie Charlton, he had a pig  
You hit it with a shovel and it danced a jig  
All the way to Walker Shore  
To the tune of Elsie Marley

Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more  
Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more

If I had another penny  
I would have another gill  
I would make the piper play  
The bonny lass of Byker Hill

Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more  
Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more

Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more  
Byker Hill and Walker Shore  
Collier lads for ever more

"So, what do you think?" she asked Héctor, looking up at him, but was surprised to find that he was sound asleep! He was leaned back, his head resting against the back of the chair, and his breathing deep and even against her back. She wondered at what point he had nodded off, and how come she hadn't noticed? Oh well, she supposed it was time for bed anyway.

Becca carefully eased off him, and moved over to grab a blanket. She was about to spread it across Héctor's lap, when a sudden thought stopped her. She realized that she had been liking the contact. It felt like it'd been forever since she'd had any kind of – "parental affection", and she didn't want to have to go hang out on the floor or whatever. She considered her options – well – maybe just a little bit longer wouldn't hurt.

Becca slowly crept back onto the chair, trying really hard not to move him too much so he wouldn't wake up. She then spread the blanket across them both and leaned back, smiling up at him. Yep, much better! Unfortunately, 'just a little bit longer' ended up lasting all night, as she quickly fell into a deep sleep herself.

* * *

The next morning, Héctor woke up feeling a little disoriented. Had he fallen asleep? That was strange. He didn't remember going to sleep. In fact, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd slept at all! He usually didn't like sleeping, because sleeping usually brought bad dreams with it. He never seemed to be able to get any rest without it being plagued by nightmares, which was why he normally avoided it altogether. And yet, he didn't remember having any nightmares last night either. He actually felt well rested for once.

He thought about it for a second. He had dreamt, but he couldn't really remember much about it, except that Becca had been in it. He yawned and stretched, and speaking of which. . . Héctor looked down when he noticed something was on top of him, and there she was! He was astonished to find Becca curled up on his lap, sound asleep!

Then he remembered their lesson from last night. He must have passed out at some point during it, and then she'd got a blanket and – decided to sleep with him? Héctor felt that same warm glow, starting at his chest and spreading throughout all his bones, even stronger than before.

He smiled fondly down at her. She just looked so – cute, and she'd probably get mad at him for thinking that, but he couldn't help it. She's the one who decided to camp out on his lap, curled up like a kitten! He watched her sleep for a while, hoping that she wouldn't wake up too soon.

* * *

Becca woke up slowly the next morning, feeling warm and safe, if a bit confused at her current position. She looked up to get her bearings, and was stunned to find Héctor smiling down at her! She yelped in surprise, falling off his lap and getting all tangled in the blanket in the process. She quickly realized she must have fallen asleep! Oh great, well this was really embarrassing!

She struggled with the blanket, trying to hide her mortified expression. Him grinning at her like he was, wasn't helping her situation. She needed to come up with an excuse, and fast!

"Buenos Diaz!" he told her slyly. Once she'd righted herself and was on her feet.

"Oh, yeah, uh, good morning," she said awkwardly, staring at the floor.

"How did you sleep?" he asked in that same crafty tone. Becca felt the flush on her face increase.

"Uh – oh! Did you hear that? I think Perla is calling me! Gotta go, bye!" she said quickly, tossing the blanket to the side before all but running out the door.

Héctor couldn't help but laugh after her. He rose from the chair himself, cracking his joints after not moving for so long. He then followed her out the door, curious to see where she would go.

 **. . .**

 **Sorry for the rather short chapter. I was just really wanting to get something more out there. Also the way the story is going, I thought a break here would be better versus later. I just think the continuity will flow better in the long run. Anyway, hopefully it's got enough cuteness in it to make up for the sad length! And as always, I hope you all enjoyed it!**

 **Song is: _Byker Hill by The Cottars_**

 **(I recommend listening to it on YouTube if you've never heard it before.)**


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